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Teen of the Week: Parkersburg High School’s Olivia Kennerly cooking up plans for career as a chef

By Brett Dunlap 6 min read

PARKERSBURG -- Olivia Kennerly has a recipe for the future.

The 17-year-old senior at Parkersburg High School has aspirations of one day becoming a chef and owning her own restaurant.

"I have been wanting to be a chef since I was really really little, because I used to cook in the kitchen with my mom," she said of her mother Amy Blake. "I enjoy cooking for myself and everybody.

"I feel like that is going to be a really good career for me. I like making people happy with my food."

To get there she is planning to join the Navy National Guard after graduation in the spring which will then lead her to college at either Marshall University or Fairmont State University, both known for having good culinary programs.

"When I was younger, I had a baking business, O-Dawg's Tasty Treats," she said. "I am really good at desserts."

The holiday season is always a busy time for her as she likes to make cakes, cupcakes, cookies and all kinds of desserts.

Kennerly also likes making meatloaf, soups and stews. With the soups and stews, there are a lot of vegetables to cut and she always enjoys doing all the preparation work to get everything ready.

She has been a part of the Navy Jr. ROTC program at PHS since she was a freshman and is on their drill team where they go to different schools in the area and do marching demonstrations, display their knowledge of military protocols and show off their uniforms. The knowledge portion includes the chain of command, Navy and Marine Corps ranks, general orders, the phonetic alphabet, military time and uniform measurements.

"The first time I realized I wanted to join ROTC was during my eighth grade year," Kennerly said. "They came to my school and I thought the uniforms were really cool.

"When I joined, I realized it was a lot more than just wearing the uniform."

There is a sense of duty in how one presents themselves and behaves that she has come to understand and appreciate as they are out in the community.

She serves as the unit's safety officer where part of her responsibilities are to make sure everyone is doing what they are supposed to be doing, are good to be doing their activities and administer basic first aid if someone gets cut or has a problem.

Being involved with the Jr. ROTC is helping to prepare her to join the Navy National Guard next year.

She wanted to join because she had a cousin in the Navy National Guard and a lot of her family are in the military or have been in the past.

"I want to do that for a few years and then go to college," Kennerly said.

She is not sure exactly what she wants to do in the Navy National Guard. She will be talking to her recruiter in January about some of the fields she can pursue.

Kennerly also does a lot of volunteer work in the community with her mother, especially at the Old Man Rivers Mission where she has been volunteering for five years and helping to deliver meals for the last four years.

"I like to help my mom with whatever she needs help with," she said.

Kennerly has helped prepare food at Old Man Rivers for the truck that goes out and serves meals and has been going out on the truck to help serve.

She also does other work around the mission, helping get things together for people in the area as well as elementary students. She helps with the food pantry and helps clean the building.

"It teaches me to take care of people who are in need," Kennerly said of people who need food or some other kind of help day to day. "It has helped open my eyes to see these people really do need help."

Her volunteer work along with her time in the Jr. ROTC has taught her about responsibility, commitment and following through on any job she is doing.

"I know I have to get something done and I just can't slack off," she said.

That attitude also follows her into her cooking endeavors as she needs to know when certain foods are properly prepared so no one gets sick.

Kennerly brought her community volunteering spirit together with her Jr. ROTC activities in putting together a recent toy drive to benefit children at the Charleston Area Medical Center's Women and Children's Hospital in what is planned to become an annual event.

She coordinated with the PHS Jr. Navy ROTC and the Parkersburg South High School Jr. Air Force ROTC as well as a number of community organizations and partners to collect toys and other items, starting Oct. 15, for children who will be in the hospital this holiday season.

On Nov. 25, they loaded up her father's truck and delivered the toys to the hospital.

"We got toy donations at the different organizations and then they brought them into Old Man Rivers so we could take them to Charleston," Kennerly said. "We delivered all the toys, including stuffed animals, coloring books, crayons, pencils, Legos and all kinds of different stuff.

"We collected a lot of toys."

She didn't know exactly how many toys they collected but she knew they would make a difference to the kids they went to.

"It makes me happy to know I was a part of them feeling a little bit better and making sure they got something on Christmas," she said.

All of her commitments help her see where the needs are and what she can do to address them, just like following a recipe when she is cooking. It also prepares her to improvise when needed, but still follow through to get the job done that she committed herself to doing.

"I like being able to help the community the best I can and wherever I can," Kennerly said.

Brett Dunlap can be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com

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