Teen baker finds new passion in her 'retirement'

Since deciding to retire her successful baking business last year, Sarah Nelson has been finding other ways to keep herself busy.

“School and work is taking up most of my time right now,” said the 16-year-old. 

Nelson, now a Grade 11 student at Korah Collegiate, is working at O’Sullivan Funeral Home, and has been there for about a year. 

“I love it there,” she said about her job as a Junior Funeral Director Assistant. 

She loves it so much, she said, that she has decided to pursue a career in the industry. 

“I know for sure that I’ll be going away for college,” she said.

Nelson will be moving to British Columbia in just two months and is planning on finishing high school there. 

She then plans on attending a college that specializes in mortuary science, with aspirations of becoming a funeral director. 

Nelson has become a household name around Sault Ste. Marie for starting her own baking business at just eight years old. She managed to raise over $55,000 from the sales, and gave half of the funds to local charities. 

Some of those organizations included ARCH, Project LifeSaver, Sault Search and Rescue, the Autism Canada Foundation, and the Sault Ste. Marie Soup Kitchen Community Centre. 

Nelson was also the youngest recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, awarded by then MP Bryan Hayes and MPP David Orazietti, when she was nine years old. 

Her business — which she named “Sarah Bugs Sweet Treats” — sold cakes, candies, cookies, and chocolate, with her favourites being chocolate covered pretzels and chocolate covered licorice.

“I still miss my baking business, but it’s nice to be able to do things around the holidays now,” Nelson said. 

“I definitely enjoyed it a lot.”