April 5, 2021

Eight-year-old Meagan Harrington had the same goal as all younger siblings: to beat her older brother at his own sport. And for her, that was competitive shooting. The first time Harrington ’21 picked up a firearm, it set into motion the series of events that would eventually lead her home to Texas A&M University.

The generosity of others has allowed Meagan Harrington '21 to hit the mark in the field and in the classroom.

When Harrington’s family moved to a ranch in Corpus Christi, Texas, and her older brother began shooting competitively through their local 4-H club, she was drawn to the sport that would become a central point in her life over the next decade and a half. Upon expressing interest in this new hobby, her mother bought a small, used gun, and her brother introduced her to the world of competitive shooting. After one year of practice, the modern-day Annie Oakley could shoot 100% of the targets at her skeet events. “From that moment, I was instantly hooked,” she said.

Harrington has gone on to be a member of the 2020 and 2021 United States Sporting Clays teams,

where she was named one of the top three female competitors in the nation both years. She has earned a variety of accolades, which include 2019 U.S. Open Lady All-Around Champion, 2019 National Lady All-Around Champion, 2020 North Central Regional Lady Champion and 2020 South Central Regional Lady Champion. Locally, she is a member of the Texas A&M Trap & Skeet Club.

An Aggie Family

Community was the value that originally drew Harrington to Texas A&M. After spending her childhood in 4-H, surrounded by a community, she realized that a family atmosphere was what she wanted in a college experience and swapped other collegiate aspirations for maroon and white. She accepted her offer of admission without having toured the school, relying solely on Aggieland’s reputation as a place of togetherness and tradition. Harrington then began to visit Bryan-College Station from her hometown of Corpus Christi, growing to love the school before classes had even begun. Her Fish Camp experience affirmed that she had made the right decision as she saw familiar values from 4-H reflected in the student body, such as leadership and a desire for betterment.

Attending Texas A&M forced the Aggie to expand her comfort zone. Today, she loves getting to know her peers and professors, describing the network-building experience as a “once in a lifetime opportunity.”

 

Funding Her Future

After a nurse anesthetist spoke to her biomedical sciences class to promote different paths in the medical field, Harrington once again felt a calling—this time to pursue a career as a nurse anesthetist. Today, she works at the Texas A&M Institute for Preclinical Studies as a student assistant, which allows her to gain hands-on experience in the medical field as she prepares to apply to nursing school.

Harrington shared that her academic and shooting success have been made possible by the generosity of others like the late Donna Veale ’80, whose planned gift via life insurance funded her Foundation Excellence Award (FEA), as well as 12 other endowed scholarships for Aggies. In addition to her FEA scholarship, she has also received scholarships for her shooting talents from The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo (HLSR) and the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo, fully funding her college education. “These scholarships have allowed me the time and freedom to pursue my passion for shooting throughout college as well as alleviating financial stress for my mom and me.” 

The scholar expressed her desire to one day be fortunate enough to give back financially to these programs. However, for the time being, she is lending a hand however she can. “I’m on the HLSR’s Ranching & Wildlife Committee, and I volunteer my time to encourage youth in the outdoors,” Harrington said. “One day I hope to contribute to their scholarship fund as this was a huge part of my life. Likewise, Mrs. Veale—even in passing—has inspired me to one day make the ultimate contribution of helping someone obtain their education.”

 

A Gift for Life 

A planned gift of life insurance can fund an endowment that will support the area of Texas A&M you choose in perpetuity. There are four ways to make a gift of life insurance:

  1. Transfer ownership of an existing policy and designate the Foundation as beneficiary.

  2. Purchase a new policy with the Foundation as owner and beneficiary.

  3. Retain ownership of an existing policy and change the beneficiary designation to the Foundation.

  4. Designate the Foundation as partial beneficiary of a new or existing life insurance policy.

Email our planned giving gurus for more information!



To learn more about supporting deserving Aggies like Meagan with a scholarship, contact Marcy Ullmann ’86 by completing the form below. To learn how you can create a planned gift to leave your legacy at Texas A&M, contact Angela Throne ’03 at giftplanning@txamfoundation.com.

Download our estate planning kit