Megan Mahoney is one of the most accomplished and ambitious people you will ever meet. She is graduating in May with not one but two degrees: her bachelor’s in English literature and creative writing and her master’s in Arts in Teaching. A Templeton student, she was able to pursue her master’s degree simultaneously with her four-year track bachelor’s. Being able to read one thousand words per minute certainly helps with that! She has worked as a TA for six semesters, in the English department and in Templeton. She’s leaving Eastern with a full resume and more than prepared to have a life of fulfillment and joy beyond university.
After she graduates, she’s moving back to her beloved home state of Arizona to teach middle schoolers at the liberal arts charter school she herself attended and graduated from. She’s specifically teaching poetry and literature: two subjects she’s studied thoroughly and become expertly familiar with through her educational years. I attended a sister school of the one Megan is going to be teaching at, and I can confidently say that she is easily the most capable and qualified 21-year-old applicant and first-year teacher they have ever had.
Wickedly smart, Megan is also an author. She writes YA fiction and has queried two of her books and will query a third this summer, hoping to be published soon. Additionally, she is a founding member and chair of the Poikilia Project, a small organization dedicated to researching and developing methods for bringing historically-excluded voices (women, people of color, etc) to the Western canon that we all study to some degree in our formative years. She writes beautiful poetry occasionally in her spare time that she thinks is not great (it is). Even more: she speaks Mandarin and French, and has studied Latin and ancient Greek. Megan has staffed and written for the Waltonian for her four years here, and has staffed and participated in ETHELS for her four years as well. She never does anything part-way.
She’s a loyal friend, with an enormous heart and a strong ethic of commitment. Megan deeply cares for the wellbeing of her family, her friends, and everyone around her, and she’s giftedly perceptive about the needs of her loved ones. She’s incredibly passionate and knowledgeable about her occupations and areas of study — able to talk about any of them in detail for hours. She is wonderfully faithful and a treasured friend, and her intuition and wisdom is unparalleled.
If you ever have the blessing of knowing Megan, or even merely meeting her, you’ll know that she cultivates a safe and encouraging space around herself, and you will be affirmed and inspired to move about your life devotedly and diligently. And, if you want to be endeared to her forever, I recommend giving her some dark chocolate or burrata cheese — both is even better.
Hannah Bonanducci 
Shane Witzer