WOODBURY — Being a quiet kid in the retail business normally doesn’t sound ideal; however, Anna Solicito, a senior at Nonnewaug, makes it work.  

This past holiday season, a lot of families shopped for Christmas trees and asked for Fraser firs, a popular type of tree. It made for a hectic Monday for Solcito, who works at Vaszauskas Farm in Middlebury.

“It’s been busy; they’ve mostly been nice,” says Solicito. “Just the occasional Karen.”

At her work, she has learned how to work more with the public, including people skills, customer service, and problem solving. Her skills learned at her current job can potentially help her with achieving her future goal of becoming a detective or private investigator. She aspires to be involved in a criminal investigative career.

When it comes to Solicito, some might think she’s timid. But according to Solcito’s English teacher, Benjamin Guerette, there is more to her than meets the eye.

“I’ve always found Anna sort of mysterious,” Guerette jestfully said. “I feel like I’ve gotten to know her pretty well over the last year and a half, but even still, I wouldn’t be shocked to learn that she was secretly a spy infiltrating American society.”

Solcito might be mysterious, but the people who know her well can say that she has an interesting character. 

“She has a really good sense of humor,” says Alyssa Hodges, senior and friend of Solicito.

“[Her humor] is probably my favorite thing about Anna,” Guerette agrees. 

With a good sense of humor and an entertaining personality, Solicito makes her mark on teachers and students alike.

“On lunch duty, she’s one of the people who I make a point of talking to, because I know that whatever is on her mind will be entertaining,” says Guerette.

Beyond the laughter she creates, Solicito’s work ethic and effort has shown in her classes.

“Even though she pretends like she’s not good at school, she did really well in AP Lang with me last year,” says Guerette. “She’s super smart even if she doesn’t like to admit it.”