An Interview with Anabelle Cross

Anabelle is a 10th grader, having been at Keystone since Kindergarten. She is actively involved in WLC (World Language Club) and STUCO (Student Council) and always brings spirit to Keystone events on and off campus. I sat down with Anabelle to ask her a few questions about her Keystone experience, life, and stand-out memories.

 

1: What is a memory from Keystone that has stuck with you, from lower school, middle school, or high school?

“I have lots of good memories from Keystone, but some…include…[mainly] just chaos with friends.”

2: What has been a particularly eventful Keystone school trip?

“I’d say the New Mexico one. It was 14 degrees while we were camping, my water bottle froze, our body wipes (the only way we could clean ourselves) became a frozen lump of ice, there was a sandstorm, there was tumbleweed in our tent, there was Annia at 3 AM laughing…, and at one point in the night I hear banging on my tent door and it’s Tristan with a nosebleed going ‘My back hurts!’”

3: Can you remember a time when you ate a type of food and felt a feeling of indescribable joy?

“I make some really good burritos. I bring them to school almost every day…they’re so good. Every day, after…stat class, I have a burrito, and I can give you the recipe….They’re called Extreme Wellness tortillas, and they’re with spinach and flaxseeds….And then you get HEB Organics sriracha ranch sauce…and you spread it on the burrito. Then you get chicken with seasoning on it, cover it with pepper, salt and olive oil, and put it in the oven. You get the chicken, put it in the burrito, put some onions in it, put some cheese—you’ve got a really good burrito.”

4: What is a summer vacation or holiday that you went on that was eventful?

“So, a few years ago, on our annual trip to Big Bend National Park, we wanted to do this mystery trail because they took it off the maps because it was hard to access. My dad had the bright idea to do it, and it’s called Devil’s Den. So there’s no path to it, and it’s in the desert…. You’re just wandering the desert using [a] GPS to find it, [but the] GPS doesn’t work because there’s no signal in the middle of the desert. So we were stranded…for a good three hours.”

5: What is the worst movie you’ve seen?

“The worst movie has to be Leo the Vegetarian Lion, which i was watching with my sister on a road trip while on a quest to find the worst movie on Netflix (I think we found it). It is a musical about a lion who was bullied for being vegetarian and shockingly also happens to be a musical with animations that still gives me nightmares.”

6: Who is someone you look up to?

“As an artist, I look up to every and any artist out there all with their own creative visions and ideas. [I look up to] Bob Ross for his ability to always look at the good and beauty in the world and for showing people that anyone can do art, and [I look up to] Nanna Bryndis Hilmarsdottir, singer for Of Monsters and Men. [They are] two super amazing people who I definitely look up to in my life.”

7: What are some memorable pet stories?

“My favorite pet stories have to be [those of] my pet planaria, which my sister gave to me after her fifth grade dissection, which was really special. I got it after a medical procedure caused me to stay at home for a week, and I gave my planaria so much love, but it met its tragic fate when [it drowned] in food inside its small Gatorade bottle a week later. [The other story is] of Goldie, my goldfish who I had for two days…[I won] her from a carnival with my dad’s company, [but] two days later Goldie was ‘feeling quite flexible’ and was announced dead later that day.”