From The Bark magazine, Spring 2012 Sheâs an accomplished artist, a big fan of foreign languages, an office holder in three school clubs, and she sure knows how to wear a tie. No matter how you contort it, you canât deny that Megan McClure is both incredibly interestÂing and talented. âI had a lot of really rough stuff going on in my life, and the best way I found to deal with any of it was to start just putting it down on canvas,â McClure says. âI started putting it down on canvas and it became really personal, something I was really atÂtached to, so my art meant more. So I had the drive to promote my technical skills so as to get across my message because I had something to say.â Indeed, people donât usuÂally get as far in anything as McClure has without some drive, and, as BHS art teacher Ms. Flowerree GaleÂtovic explains, McClureâs mixture of talent and hard work is a recipe for success. âNot only is she gifted, but she is very, very hard working, and that combiÂnation spells success,â Ms. Galetovic says. âShe enÂters everything with such enthusiasm and exciteÂment, whether itâs E-Club, whether itâs National Art Honor Society, whether itâs her art class or Latin class or other classes. With her work ethic, her enthusiasm, her positive attitude, sheâll do fantastically wherever she ends up.â McClureâs ability is unÂdeniable, but she says her desire to create visual art didnât really kick in until about a year ago. Nevertheless, she has a clear idea of what her style is and what she wants to create. âI do a lot of painting, a lot of drawing, really conceptual stuff,â says McClure, who cites influences as artists Chuck Close and Kathe Kollwitz, as well as art teachers Ms. Galetovic and Mr. Stan Hillard. âTechnical skills are important, but I canât stand landscapes and still-lives without meaning. I do a lot of self portraits and stuff with deep meaning.â McClureâs artistic ability led to her involvement in National Art Honor Society (âThe Honor Society that no one knows about,â she says), which combines art with community service projects. Through NAHS, McClure also became involved with her own fund-raising effort, raising money for the National Ataxia Foundation through the sale of hand-painted Christmas ornaments. Additionally, McClure is notably involved in EnviÂronmental Club (or E-Club), of which she is president, and Latin Club, of which she is co-president, AKA Consul. Her large involveÂment with foreign languagÂes, namely Latin and, more recently, German, began her freshman year. âIâm in my fifth semesÂter of Latin, and two of German, and Iâve found that I really love language and communication, and vocabulary and grammar and literature just all really make me happy,â McClure says. âWhen I got to enjoy the wonderful world of German, I found that one of the things I like is lanÂguages overall, the strucÂture, just the way of comÂmunications. I think that ties back to art and comÂmunicating something.â Adds Latin teacher Mr. Sandy Hughes: âA kid like Megan comes to you wantÂing to learn stuff and trying to figure out who she is.â While Megan may be known to some by her successes in the worlds of art and foreign languages, she is even more recognizÂable by her unique sense of style. That is, if you go to Bearden High School, youâve probably never seen Megan McClure without a tie. âEveryone wonders where this started, where this came from, and now when I look back itâs kind of hard to remember,â McÂClure laughs. âBy eighth grade, I know I was wearÂing a tie every day. I think between sixth and seventh grade it started to grow, and now I have well over 100 ties.â McClure says that she has received most of her ties as gifts, from an array of people ranging from her friends and family to her middle school art teacher and Mr. Hillard to Mr. Hughes. In fact, her vast number of ties lends a constant visual aspect to McClureâs overall uniqueÂness. As Mr. Hughes says, she is a bit of an anomaly among students in that she doesnât follow the crowd whatsoever. âItâs quite ironic, because she used to argue with me [about my generalizations of teenagers], and I would say, âIâve never really had any unique kids, Megan,ââ Mr. Hughes says. âBut Megan is one of the few unique kids Iâve ever had.â Thanks to her many talents (Ms. Galetovic gives her the high praise of ârenaissance womanâ), McClure could probably take her future in any number of directions. But her âmaster planâ seems to sum it all up in one package, as she explains. âI want to dual major in Classics and Visual Art, and I hope after four years I really will have decided which I like best. Then get a masterâs degree in one of them, take a break, join the Peace Corps, and then get back, get a PhD, and then teach college,â she says. âThatâs the master plan.â With Meganâs unique skill set and drive to achieve, thereâs no doubt she can reach her highest goals. And one other thing is sure: sheâll probably still be wearing a tie when she gets there. Jack H. Evans is the entertainment editor for The Bark. Follow The Bark on Twitter @BeardenBARK and like The Bark (Bearden High School) on Facebook.