This is the 21st of 25 profiles about The Gazette’s Best and Brightest Class of 2016.

The list of academic honors and achievements for Makayla Shoup is like reading the accomplishments of a person at least twice, perhaps three times, her age because the activities are so wide-ranging. They include everything from sports to orchestra, from civic organizations to neighborhood endeavors, from mentoring to pageantry.

Shoup’s Best and Brightest application included two single-spaced pages of her scholastic and extracurricular exploits for the past three years.

“My mom taught me from an early age that you have to make your life happen,” she said, “and I like being part of something that is bigger than myself.”

This is one of the many aspects she said she finds appealing about teen pageants.

“I get asked a lot why I participate,” she said. “I had heard a lot of terrible stories about girls being mean to each other, but my mindset is to just try things. I ended up meeting a ton of girls like me who are ambitious, driven and selfless. I didn’t expect that and what I found was a great community of friends.”

Shoup has been active on Widefield High School’s student council, including serving as a student cabinet member. This year, instead of organizing the usual food drive and loose coin collections, she suggested that the school take on a yearlong project with the Make-A-Wish Foundation to help send a 5-year-old terminally ill child to Disneyland. “That has helped me learn what giving is,” she said.

School is not the only place where Shoup helps make a difference in others’ lives. In her essay, Shoup wrote, “It started many years ago to help our elderly neighbors and has evolved into an enjoyable activity that spreads good cheer. Many of us were strangers but we all came together to assist each other and the relief and surprise of those we helped was palpable in their good wishes and joy.”

Shoup said she has already begun researching volunteer opportunities at Colorado School of Mines, where she will attend in the fall. She said she has always enjoyed math and science and is excited by the possibilities that await her as an engineering major.

“Engineering is all about creativity and making new things to help people,” she said.