Megan Thompson does it all: she’s the president of Room for Improvment, founder and president of Ukelele Club, public relations for Glee Club, a lead facilitator for Emerging Leaders, and member of Interior Design Student Association and Archery Club. During her time at Southeast, she’s explored her interests and encouraged others to do so, as well.

Megan says she grew up in Redbud, Ill., a small town around 30 minutes south of Belleville, Ill. Advice from high school counselors brought her to Southeast Missouri State University; as the counselors helped her explore her interests and determine her college major, she says they also helped narrow down her list of colleges to ones with an interior design program.

She’s currently a junior and majors in interior design with a minor in theater, a degree path that Thompson said she’s loved ever since she entered college. She said the program is unique: around the time she was an incoming freshman in 2018, few colleges on her list featured interior design degree programs.

“My experience here at SEMO has been very fortunate, I’ve gotten projects with actual clients and have been able to meet so many people,” Thompson said. One of her favorite projects involved working with clients to design a kitchen for a local men’s transition house.

As for on-campus involvement, Thompson founded the ukulele club, which she says has been one of her biggest sources of joy on campus. During her sophomore year in 2019-2020, her roommate suggested she should buy a ukulele for fun, and Megan immediately ordered one. She said she picked it up very quickly and was soon showing her friends how to play the instrument. She said she loves its versatility and ability to travel; she’ll bring it wherever she goes.

“I can make music wherever I am,” Thompson said.

Thompson is the president of the Ukulele Club at Southeast, where fellow musicians enjoy the instrument as a group. This semester, they’ve featured both in-person meetings on campus and virtual meetings over Zoom.

Thompson enjoys participating in and leading Room For Improvment, an improv club on campus. Thompson said she didn’t seek out the improv club originally; she was searching for a different club meeting when she accidentally stumbled into the improv meeting room. She says she enjoyed that first meeting so much that she just kept coming back and eventually gained the role as president. She’s also involved in clubs such as Emerging Leaders, where she strengthens her leadership skills and instructs others in skill-building activities.

If she could give advice to Southeast students, she’d recommend trying anything that interests you. Campus involvement is all about trying something new; she says if you never try, you’ll never know what you truly love.