From cake to bread to cookies, junior Kelsey Thompson is always baking. She brought her passion from her own kitchen into the real world two years ago, when she began her job at Cookie Good, a small, family-run bakery in Santa Monica, California.

When Thompson started working at Cookie Good in October 2017, she carried out tasks in the back of the store.

“When I first starting working there, I would just work in the back and scoop dough, getting the cookies prepped to go in the oven,” Thompson said. “I would also separate ingredients if they needed, clean, and smaller things like that.”

However, now that she has worked there for a year and a half, she does more jobs that involve interacting with customers.

“This is my second year working there, and I do more things in the front now. I fill boxes, I put the cookies on the cooling racks, and sometimes I put decorations on top,” Thompson said.

Riley Adams, a friend of Thompson’s, said that Thompson fits her job “perfectly” at Cookie Good.

“She’s very social, and she knows how to handle different situations with different people. Her work ethic is also really good. I have a lot of classes with her, and she’s always on task and focused,” Adams said. “I’m sure her work ethic carries right into her job.”

The store always keeps about 13 flavors in the front of the store but swaps them out every two weeks.

“We keep our most popular flavors like red velvet and caramel pretzel chocolate chunk consistent, but we always change some due to the seasons,” Thompson said.

Thompson’s other friend, junior Charley Griffiths, said that Thompson always brings different baked goods to school.

“Kelsey is always baking for our friends. Whether it’s pumpkin bread or cookies with chocolate peanut butter cups, everything she makes is phenomenal,” Griffiths said.

Thompson said that she enjoys her job not only because she gets to work with baked goods, but also because she enjoys the experience of working with others.

“I love this job because first of all, I love baking. I get to just be around bakers all the time. They are always coming up with new flavors, so it’s really fun to taste test and see how their ideas come to life,” Thompson said. “I also just love communicating with customers. It always smells good in there, and I get to eat a lot of cookies.”