Cece Ellis is a senior at Mill Creek High School. Throughout her high school career, she has dedicated herself to many extracurricular activities. Most recently she performed in Mill Creek’s Spring Show “Pippin” as a member of the ensemble. At the beginning of her second semester as a senior she joined an advanced theater class and she says that was when she decided to audition, “I know a lot of people in the theater program from freshman year. I kept them throughout high school just because theater was always a welcoming environment.”

Initially, Ellis had auditioned for Cinderella, the spring musical of 2023, however the audition process didn’t fit with her schedule, “At first I wasn’t sure with my schedule, but I ended up meeting a lot of nice people that were very welcoming and cared about what we were doing.”

Through her freshman to junior year, Ellis was in Mill Creek’s Marching Band, “I was so passionate about marching band freshman year, I saw all the upperclassman on the podium and I wanted to be them,” Ellis continued, “I worked very hard to become very good at my instrument, but also to become very good at a leadership role.” She had played the tenor saxophone and worked her way up to a leadership position. Throughout her years in band she created lifelong friendships.

Along with band and theater, Ellis is also a certified yoga instructor and received her verification in August of 2023. She started yoga two years ago after her mom had gotten her interested in the classes. Ellis says,” I worked at Bodies in Motion in downtown Buford. I worked there for a year and I wasn’t getting paid, but I could attend free yoga classes,” she continues, “After a year they opened their yoga teacher certification.” Currently, Ellis is employed at Restore Hyper Wellness. They offer holistic wellness approaches that help the healing process and boost athletic recovery, she says, “We have all types of medical services like IVs, shots and a hyperbaric oxygen chamber.”

Ellis is committed to Kennesaw State University and wants to major in Exercise Science, Ellis states, “With my certification I want to focus on a holistic approach. I want to help people with different sports and activities.” She wants to help and educate athletes about the benefits of yoga.

Ellis and Jaqueline Renoll Arbor, 12, created the Yoga Club at Mill Creek. Their goal was to make yoga more accessible to young people, she said, “I wish it was more available. The studio that I worked out was $100 a month,” she stated, “We worked a lot with the Mill Creek girls basketball team and they loved it. We would start after school and then they would have their game later that night.”