Incoming senior Megan McClanahan is one of Chaminade University’s “super achievers.” Along with excelling in her pre-medical studies, she competes on the Silversword women’s soccer team, immerses herself in campus issues through the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and still has time for social activities.
How does she strike a balance among these diverse interests? McClanahan says time management enables her to “not only balance soccer and academics, but to also enjoy a social life.”
“Soccer practice helps me fire up my brain early in the morning so I can perform better in morning classes,” she says. “I usually do homework in the afternoons and evenings. I am a big believer in study groups, and I have found a great group of friends to study with. The last thing I do to balance my life is to get enough sleep. I shoot for at least eight hours a night.”
That formula obviously works for McClanahan, who plans to earn her undergraduate biology degree next year from the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. Then this future surgeon will enroll at The George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Sciences through an articulation agreement negotiated by Chaminade.
“I have known for a very long time I want to be a doctor,” McClanahan says. “During my freshman year, I became aware of the articulation agreement Chaminade has with George Washington. My sophomore year I did more research about GW and viewed it as the next place I want to stop on my journey through life.”
With guidance from Chaminade’s Undergraduate Research & Pre-Professional Programs, McClanahan was accepted for an interview at George Washington “and fell in love with the Washington, D.C., area and the campus while I was there.”
“As a part of the agreement, I am finishing my time at Chaminade pursuing a humanities minor of Hawaiian and Pacific Island Studies,” McClanahan says. “I am grateful for the opportunities presented to me at Chaminade, and I am eager to begin my next steps to becoming a doctor.”
McClanahan, who hails from the Omaha suburb of Papillion, Nebraska, was initially attracted to Chaminade as a high school junior when she participated in a National History Day contest. On the last day of the competition in the nation’s capital, McClanahan won a Chaminade merit scholarship. Then she discovered the Silversword soccer team.
“I spent the next year trying to find a way to get the coaches and athletic department at Chaminade to notice me,” McClanahan says. “Once I was able to fulfill my lifelong dream of playing college soccer, I had a decision to make.
“Should I be fearless and decide to spend the next four years in Hawaii, a place I have never been? Or should I play it safe and stay closer to home? Needless to say, I took a leap of faith and have never looked back with regret.”
