Taryn Teggatz’s college decision came down to two schools: the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The Wylie East High School valedictorian made her decision on the college at the end of April – she will attend UT’s College of Natural Sciences – and she knows what her major will be: chemistry. A pivotal moment when she was younger revealed what her vocation will be after college.

“I think I remember in fifth grade dressing up as pharmacist for career day at school,” Taryn said. “My mom was a pharmacy technician when she was in college, so she always told me about it. But I was always interested in it because I really want to help people later in the future either being a pharmacist in the healthcare field, like working in a hospital, or as a pharmacy researcher and actually developing the drugs that people need.”

She is interning at a Murphy Walgreens store as a pharmacy technician trainee, so she is getting to do clinical work now.

Born in Plano, Taryn has lived in Sachse her entire life, in the same house, and has attended Wylie schools throughout her career. Taryn will finish at East with a grade point average of 5.86. She is the daughter of Rex and Michelle Teggatz, and she has a younger brother, Troy, who is a sophomore at East.

Knowing she has to make a decision soon, Taryn visited Madison two weeks ago for her campus trip.

“It was beautiful up there, so it’s a hard decision either staying close by or going up there,” said Taryn, who has visited UT, too.

She is grateful for the experience at East and has learned a lot during her time there.

“I’ve just really been diligent and I didn’t really get distracted in my studies and wanted to make sure that I stayed strong in my academics while trying to keep a healthy balance with friends and school,” she said, explaining her secret to academic success. “I just didn’t let it overwhelm me where I struggled with it. It just came easy.”

She credits her parents for their influence, and she also appreciates how East chemistry teacher Vito Peri helped her fall in love with chemistry. Friends and family also have been a part of her strong support system, she said. Her younger brother is “always rooting” for her, and “he’s very smart, too,” she said.

At East, Taryn was involved in choir and National Honor Society, and she also gives back to others or the community, such as through Raiders in Service program and Wylie Math Tutoring, the latter of which she tutors students in math subjects in grades three through 12. 

East salutatorian Morgan Healey plans to attend UT and major in business.

“I’m not exactly sure what I want to do yet for my career, so I think business will be a good foundation to give me different skills and experiences,” she said.

She has loved UT her whole life, wearing UT clothing since she was young. She likes the McCombs School of Business at UT and wanted to make sure she stayed in Texas and didn’t want to be too far from home. After college, she would like to own her own business some day and focus on fitness, which she has a passion for, and perhaps own a fitness studio.

She finishes her career at East with a GPA of 5.713. She is the daughter of Craig and Timla Healey. She has two siblings: Sara, a student at Dallas Baptist University, and Brenden, a student at the University of Texas at Dallas. Both siblings graduated from East.

Born in Wylie, Morgan has been here her whole life and attended Wylie schools. At East, she was involved in College Club, National Honor Society and basketball.

Morgan said her freshman year, she didn’t knowwhat to expect from school and her first year at East was “really busy, and there’s always a bunch of school work packed into every day.” She said her parents helped her in that regard.

“They never put too much pressure on me to take certain classes or do certain things,” she said. “They would always stand behind my decisions 100% and support what I did, and then my friends as well as – they always had more confidence in me that I did in myself, so they always supported me as well and motivated me.”

Both Taryn and Morgan said they are excited to move on from high school and experience life beyond high school.

“Not that I don’t like Wylie, but I really want to leave Wylie and experience somewhere new because I’ve been here my whole life and just want to meet a bunch of new people and (experience) a whole different culture, really,” Morgan said, adding she is a homebody and that her mom said she will visit her frequently in Austin.

By Don Munsch [email protected]