Albert Lea High School junior Kelli Hanson might epitomize the description of the overextended American youth with all of her extracurricular activities, but it’s hard for her to give something up when she has a natural talent in everything she tries.

While others take on activities to build their resume for perspective colleges Hanson strays from the pack by taking on activities that truly interest her and she has excelled in everything she has taken on.

Tuesday she made her first trip to the Class AAA state golf tournament in Bunker Hills. Hanson finished 57th overall with a two-day total of 183 and while that doesn’t necessarily equate into success, the fact that she reached a goal she set as a seventh-grader might.

When she joined the team in seventh-grade she exhibited a natural ability to play the game and with some hard work during the offseason she achieved her goal by placing in the top five finishers at the Section 1AAA tournament.

“It’s just rare to get someone this well rounded, so gifted in so many areas and so well liked and trustworthy,” Tigers girls’ golf head coach Shawn Riebe said. “It’s great to reflect to other players that hard work equals this kind of reward.”

Making time for golf has been difficult with a loaded schedule that includes show choir, chamber orchestra, hockey and tennis, just to name a few.

While those all look good on college applications she doesn’t participate in those activities just to compile an impressive list.

She’s a natural in just about everything she takes on and she involves herself in many things because of a natural interest in anything and everything.

“I like staying busy,” Hanson said. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

She did cut out marching band after last year though, but few could handle her hectic schedule.

“There’s no way I could keep up with her,” golf teammate Abby Leach said. “And she’s always good at everything she does. I think it’s all natural talent, she works hard at everything she does to make herself better but if she didn’t practice she’d still be good at what she does.”

Hanson played five days a week during the summer to fine tune her game to help her reach her goal of appearing at the state tournament, and that dedication is characteristic of how she goes about her many activities.

“I think she would just be bored sitting at home,” Riebe said. “She goes full boat at everything she does. It’s quite unique.”

It would seem the pressure of maintaining everything at once would get to a teenager, but not so for Hanson who handles it with maturity.

“She seems to do all right with it,” Riebe said. “I think sometimes it’s ‘I need to have a 4.0, I need to have A’s, I need to have this and that.’ I’ve seen girls where that breaks them down, but she’s handled it all right.”

Some might call her a perfectionist because of the way she tackles things that interest her but that’s not the case either.

“I think she’s a perfectionist, but it’s not to the point where it’s over obsessive with it,” teammate Abby Leach said. “She’s social. She’s not like the type of person who is a perfectionist who stays at home and reads their books.”

Hanson likes to spend her time learning about whatever intrigues her and that is part of the reason she has become involved in so many activities.

“She’s one of those people that wants answers to things,” Riebe said. “When she wants answers to things she works to get them. Whether it’s in sports, whether it’s academically, whether it’s musically, whether it’s trivially, it doesn’t matter.”

Perhaps she’s a model of the Internet generation, it’s the place where she likes to find the answer to her questions.

“I go a lot on the Internet on random Web sites,” Hanson said. As person who likes to find answers she cites math as her favorite subject in school and would like to go on in a field heavy in math.

“Maybe actuarial sciences, something with numbers. I like math,” Hanson said.

Hanson considers golf her main sport and would like to play at the collegiate level.

“I don’t know if I want to play Division I because it would take up so much time,” Hanson said.

It would be hard to believe that she couldn’t find time in her schedule.