Valedictorian one step ahead
As Abbey-Taylor Weber prepares for her high school graduation next week, the most-pressing question she’ll be asking is: “One scoop or two?”
Weber already is one step ahead of many of her fellow graduates. While some wrestle with which direction they’ll take postgraduation, the 17-year-old student at Thom Collegiate has opened her own business — a homemade gelato and baked goods shop called Bite Me.
It’s more than just a summer job for Weber. Bite Me is full-fledged family business, with her mother, younger sister Hannah and one of her grandmas also on staff. It’s a far cry from her original plan — she wanted to become an engineer — when she first walked through the doors at Thom.
But Weber adapted quickly and, thanks to guidance from a few teachers at the school, realized her greatest strength was interacting with people.
As the school’s valedictorian this year, Weber is a prime example of the message she plans to share with her classmates on Tuesday during the Grade 12 closing exercises.
“As an amazing an experience as high school can be, that’s not where it all stops,” Weber said. “A lot of people cry at grad, but I don’t think it’s a time to cry. I don’t think your memories from high school should be your best memories. High school should be where you start, not where you end. This is a new beginning.”
Bite Me hosted its grand opening over the weekend.
“I still feel like I’m a part of the school community, but I’m taking what I have learned and I’m moving on with it,” Weber added. “I’m transitioning into a new community ... I feel like I have become a part of the business community now.”
Corrine Miller, the principal at Thom, knew one of her prized students would be presented with several options after high school. Weber, who is fluent in French and English and has advanced understanding of Latin and Italian, has competed provincially and nationally at Concours d’art oratoire, an annual French public-speaking event. She was a bronze medallist at a national science fair and has participated in numerous arts, drama and musical programs at Thom. She’s also one of three diploma students in Thom’s International Baccalaureate program.
“Abbey has stood out right from the minute she walked through the doors of the school,” Miller said. “I’m proud of her. I think the risk-reward ratio is high and I have complete confidence in her that she is going to be successful, whether that’s now or five or 10 or 40 years from now. I admire the pluck of taking this chance.
“I don’t think Abbey is ever going to take it easy. She’s not wired that way. She’s the kind of person who is going to help build our community.”
Weber has plans of obtaining a business degree in the future. Her immediate focus is placed on Bite Me, which can be found at 1304 Broad St.
All goods sold at the store are homemade, including the gelato, sorbet, baking and fruit arrangements. Baking has always been a hobby for Weber, but she admitted she never envisioned herself selling her creations at her own store.
“I hadn’t come up with a definite plan of where I wanted to go,” she said. “I have scholarship offers to a bunch of different places and I’ve done so many different things in so many different areas, but I didn’t know what I wanted to do.
“Now I know ... and this business has become so much of what my family is about.”