Naida “McKenzie” Magee has her eye on the ball, both literally and figuratively.

Magee, 17, is the granddaughter of Vicki and Gary Hughes. She has one sister, Kristian Hughes. She is a Brookhaven native, but has lived in Wesson for the past five years.

Magee is a senior at Loyd Star Attendance Center, where is a part of the color guard, soccer team, tennis team, choir and the senior Beta club.

After graduation, she plans to attend the University of Southern Mississippi to major in business administration.

When school and her extracurriculars aren’t keeping her busy, Magee attends church at Jackson Street UMC, where she is involved in the youth group and vacation bible school.

In her spare time, she enjoys reading, playing the piano and guitar and perfecting her makeup techniques. Her favorite TV show is “Good Trouble.”

Her favorite food is the fried pork chops her grandma makes. Something many people may not know about Magee is that she’s currently learning how to play the ukulele.

An interesting tradition Magee’s family has involves the cookie dish that gets passed around at Christmastime.

The cookie dish is passed around and each person takes a cookie. Whoever ends up with the empty cookie dish is responsible for bringing it back next year with more cookies. She says her aunt started the tradition after finding the dish while shopping.

Something she can’t do without is the heart shaped pillow she sleeps with. Magee says her best quality is her honest nature, because she doesn’t believe in lying.

In five years, Magee sees herself graduated from USM and going to law school somewhere. Her life’s biggest goal is to be happy, because she feels like everyone tends to just go through the motions instead of living.

Story by Gracie Byrne