When Anna Heldt finished the final book of the “Anne of Green Gables” series at age 13, she threw the book against the wall because she loved it so much.
Courtesy | Anna Heldt

Senior Anna Heldt is from Denver, Colorado and is an English major on the pre-med track. She works at the contact center and is a member of the Hippocratic society. She unapologetically loves the “Barbie” movie, “Wicked,” “Bridgerton” season two, and “The Summer I Turned Pretty:” (she’s team Conrad). 

How would freshman Anna be surprised by Anna now? 

I think freshman Anna would be devastated that Anna now has stopped going to swing club. And I think freshman Anna would be proud of Anna now for the amount of books that she’s read and the papers she’s written. It would be a mixed bag for sure. 

Do you have any crazy stories from working in Colorado?

 At a restaurant one night, there was a big party in the middle of the room. I’m hosting, and I look up and see this guy walk in, and I know that the party in the middle is waiting for one more guest. You could just tell that he was looking for people. I was like, “Oh, hey. Are you part of that big party? If you’ll follow me…” And I realize he’s not looking at me anymore. He’s looking somewhere over my shoulder with this, like, tender love in his eyes. I’m like, “Oh, perfect. His wife just showed up.” And I turn and look, and two feet from me is this other guy, and he’s smiling. And then my brain re-interprets. I was like, “Oh, cute. Brothers or something.” Not brothers! The guy at the door makes a beeline for the guy who’s, you know, two feet from me, and they start kissing. I just had to stand there because that’s my job, and I could see all my coworkers staring at me and laughing at these two men. It was giving, “There was a war, and they just reunited.” But no. Anyway, such is Colorado, and that’s probably my craziest restaurant story.

What about at Hillsdale? 

At the contact center, I’ve gotten yelled at quite a bit. Turns out, I’m a closed-minded fascist. I didn’t know. I was really grateful to someone random for telling me. Another elderly man asked me out once over the phone. I was so helpful, helping him navigate his online courses account. And then he was like, “Oh, you’re such a great listener. I’d love to take you in a ride in my convertible and take you to dinner.” And I was like, “Oh.” He was 70 years old. I don’t remember how I got out of that situation. I think I just let the connection die.

What’s your party trick? 

I can bug my eyes out. Really big. Part of it is Hashimoto’s disease. It’s a thyroid condition. So my eyes come out a little farther than they’re supposed to, but I also just have really big eyes. I made a boy cry in fifth grade with my eyes, which scared him, even though we were friends.

What is your favorite thing about yourself?  

I gotta say, my sense of humor. I really love it. If you can make someone laugh, they can’t stay mad at you. And I don’t know if I have a specific example, but I just love being able to help others with my laughter.  I’d say my sense of humor has definitely helped me cope with so many things. I mean, it’s helped me at Hillsdale. It’s helped me with health stuff — basically anything. If you can find the funny in anything, you’re fine.

If you could teach a class at Hillsdale, what would it be? 

I think it’d be really fun to teach a class on the silver lining. I think that’s what I would call it, “The Silver Lining.” Everyone would come in at the beginning of the week with an experience, either something they experienced themselves or a story they heard. For other people, it has to be a tough situation. I think we would all read that, or maybe they submit them for homework on Sunday, and I’d read through them, and then bring the top ones the next day, and then we’d all hand them out, and then we’d discuss and try and find the silver lining, but also the funny bit, because in anything sad that happens to you, there’s going to be something funny.

What does your entire name mean? 

Anna means “gracious.” Elizabeth means “pledge to God,” and Heldt means “hero.” So all together, my name means gracious, pledge to God, hero. So I’m kind of set — really nothing bad can happen.