Perhaps it’s fitting that McCall Beall marches to the beat of her own drum, mixing and matching her athletics, academic and activities to whatever suits her time and energy.
 
After all, one of the first activities she was ever introduced to was musical in nature. In particular, percussion. When she was 4 years old, Beall started in Cruzline, a youth percussion drum line in Topeka directed by Sal Cruz.
 
“I couldn’t tell you why I started,” Beall said. “As soon as I started, though, I fell in love with it. What don’t I like about it? It’s a great family relationship that we have, we’re a really tight group. That community relationship is unmatched. I love it.
 
“It’s been the most consistent thing in my life. Every summer it was Cruzline. It’s go, go, go.”
 
And that pretty much sums up Beall’s life as a senior at Topeka High. With a schedule chocked full of one sport or activity after another, Beall is always on the go.
 
And Beall -- this week’s CapFed® TrueBlue ® Student of the Week -- wouldn’t want it any other way.
 
“It’s quite a lot and kind of crazy at times, but I’m better for it,” she said. “I enjoy the rigor and the fast pace. I thrive in that kind of environment. I hate being bored and I’m certainly never bored these days.”
 
Indeed, there’s no time for boredom to creep into Beall’s life, no matter what time of year it is. From playing tennis and softball to serving as Topeka High’s student body president to participating in band and Scholars Bowl as well as involvement numerous academic-based clubs, Beall has her hands in just about everything she possibly can at Topeka High.
 
“I knew she was going to be involved with stuff and I knew she was going to be some kind of leader,” said Cruz, who in addition to directing Cruzline also doubles as a band teacher at Topeka High and is in charge of the school’s drumline. “I didn’t know she was so talented in all the things she does.
 
“She’s one of those kids that I’ll remember forever. Not because I’ve known her since she was 4. But because of what she’s done. She’s built her own legacy. She never rode on anybody’s coattails.”
 
Cruz got that premonition about Beall when she first came to Cruzline. Normally, the age range for instruction is from 5 to 15 with Cruz qualifying that he only takes the young ones “depending on how they act.”

But having gone to school with Beall’s mother, Andrea Palmer, and also well acquainted with her grandmother, Ann Palmer, Cruz took a chance on a 4-year-old Beall.
 
He’s never regretted it.
 
“She was just so well-disciplined from Day 1,” Cruz said. “I knew when she was 4 that she was just mature for her age. And that comes from her support system at home – her upbringing, her parents, her grandparents’ involvement – they’ve built her into the young lady she is. That makes a world of difference. If you have a really good foundation at home and well-respected parents with values, it makes a difference. Her home base is really good.
 
“She really does have an old soul characteristic about her. Her mannerisms are from an older person. Not an old, old person but she’s always been mature beyond her years. She was just super-mature for her age.”
 
Cruz isn’t the only one who recognized that quality in Beall at an early age.
 
“I’ve always sensed in her a real maturity right from the get-go and somebody who was driven to do well,” said Sara Schafer, Beall’s gifted facilitator at Topeka High. “She’s not afraid to get involved and not afraid to put herself out there. But it’s not coming from a place of trying to be popular. It’s just who she is and she does the things she likes.”
 

 
Going into high school, there were two things Beall knew she wanted to be involved in. Obviously, band was one of them, including playing on the highly regarded Topeka High drumline.
 
Her other passion was Student Council.
 
Beall has poured herself into STUCO as well, and has risen through the ranks year after year. She began as a representative her freshman year before becoming class vice president her sophomore year. After serving as class president her junior year, Beall is now all-school president as a senior.
 
“Seeing it at every level is a cool experience,” Beall said. “I really love STUCO. We really do a lot. All the student body sees is, ‘Oh we plan the dances.’ It’s a lot more than that. We put in community effort and effort within our school community to make it a better place.”
 
That community-centric thinking led her and her fellow student council members to hold a memorial for former Topeka High teacher John Keller, who died suddenly at school in November 2021. Beall didn’t have Keller as a teacher, but felt the school community needed support during the difficult time.
 
Recently, she’s been working hard to make Topeka High’s STUCO even more inclusive for its members. She’s started a committee system for representatives, setting up four different ones that are full of just representatives.
 
“In the past, representatives were very under-utilized, kind of pushed aside and forgotten about,” she said. “I want to make sure the infrastructure is there for everybody to be included. The whole point of STUCO is to give students a voice. It seems pointless if not everyone in STUCO doesn’t have one.
 
“I just love seeing the output of what you put in. I see all the work it takes on the inside to put on dances, put on Senior Weeks, and put on service projects and clean up the park down the street. Seeing the fruits of your labor is gratifying. You don’t always need that verbally because once you see what you’ve created or done for someone, that’s all the thanks you need. It’s really gratifying.”
 
Indeed, Beall is not someone who seeks out the spotlight. Yet her personality and leadership qualities tend to put her there.
 
As a freshman, Beall decided she was done playing soccer – which she had done for 10 years prior to high school – and opted to go out for softball. She hadn’t played in several years and in fact her last time on the diamond was her third year playing baseball, not softball.
 
Not only did Beall make the team, she carved out a niche spot on the Trojans’ varsity squad, starting in the outfield for a Topeka High team that ended up going undefeated (25-0) and capturing the first of two straight Class 6A state championships.
 
On a team loaded with Division I talents NiJaree Canady and Zoe and Adisyn Caryl, Beall still was one of the team’s leaders, sporting a pink cowboy hat and relentlessly cheering on her teammates when she wasn’t out in the field.
 
 “I honestly credit that to the upperclassmen on the team,” Beall said. “I felt comfortable enough to take on that kind of position even as a freshman because of the girls on that team. I knew they needed to hear me, that I was here for them.
 
“Being a part of our back-to-back state championship teams is one of the biggest blessings of my life. It was insane and to play with the athletes the caliber of Zoe and Adisyn Caryl and obviously NiJa, that’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Not only because they were great athletes, but great people. The softball team, I love those girls.”
 

 
Cruz said those same leadership qualities were quickly evident on the drumline with Beall always playing in older groups and eventually becoming not only a section leader but the overall line leader.
 
“She just had that natural hard work ethic and worked well with others; she’s a natural leader,” Cruz said. “But it’s never been about her, either. I’ve got kids that will say, ‘What can you write for me? What can you do to feature our section? What can you do to get us the most applause.’ Well that’s what it’s not about, we’re a team and a family. And she’s never come to me in all four years and said, ‘Can I have the solo?’ or ‘Can I be the section leader?’ She is a section leader and has been the overall captain, but it’s not because she demanded it, it’s because she earned it.” 
 
Beall said some of that comes from those who she couldn’t wait to be like when she was growing up in the drumline.
 
“When I was that young kid, I had all the drum line posters on my wall and was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I can’t wait to be that person,’” she said. “And now I am. It feels like my duty to be like those before me were to me for younger kids. It’s a wonderful feeling to think I have any kind of impact on those kids. I don’t know if I consider myself a role model. But it’s a very gratifying experience to know people are looking up to you.”
 
Typically low-key, even-keeled, when Beall gets into the performance arena – whether it’s a softball diamond or on the quads in the drumline – she takes on a different demeanor.
 
“When I put on the drum, it’s a different persona,” she said. “You have to show out for who your performing for. I was always drawn to the quad because while you play the same rhythm as the snare drummers, you get to move around between the drums and crossover. It’s a lot of fun. I always knew that’s what I wanted.
 
“But in my personal life, I would not consider myself a showy person.”
 
Cruz agrees.
 
“She’s inspiring the next generation,” he said. “When you see her play, you just gravitate to her. She’s spinning sticks, her shoulders are back and her confidence is high. She’s smiling and dancing and it says a lot about her personality and character.
 
“But at the same time, she one of those kids that doesn’t brag about things, they just do them. She doesn’t wear it on her shoulder. If you ask her about it, she’ll tell you, but she doesn’t come in and say, ‘Guess what I won last night’ or things like that. That’s very, very rare these days.”
 
“She’s such a low-key person, but at the same time she’s a fiery competitor,” said Topeka High tennis coach Duane Pomeroy. “You see it more in the body language than you do in the face. She looks calm in the face, but inside she’s intense. You never count her out.” 
 
Pomeroy said one of the most memorable matches of his lengthy career involved Beall. As a sophomore in 2021, Beall and senior teammate Mary Dietrick were playing an elimination match at regionals against a team from Derby.
 
Win you get to state. Lose, your season is done. After dropping the first set, Beall and Dietrick were staring at a 5-1, 30-love deficit – two game points away from having their season over. But the Trojan duo rallied to win the set and carried that momentum over to the third, building a 5-1 lead themselves. This time, Derby came back, but Beall and Dietrick fought the Panther team off to win a match that lasted 3 hours and 40 minutes.
 
"It was really cool because you looked at the two of them and they were just enjoying the competition and their expression was the same when they were two points away from elimination as it was when they were up 5-1 in the third set,” Pomeroy said. “The leadership by example is definitely evident with McCall. It’s like having an extra coach out there.” 
 

Beall qualified for state in singles last year and this season has an 18-2 overall record, splitting time between No. 1 and No. 2 singles for the Trojans.
 
She fits her tennis into a fall schedule that is jam-packed with one activity after another. Beall has marching band practice in the mornings on Wednesdays and Friday, STUCO meetings on Fridays as well and periodically has meetings with her academic clubs, the National English Honors Society and Mu Alpha Theta, a math honor society.
 
“And that doesn’t even begin my schedule when I’m at school or homework,” Beall said. 
 
Throw in her involvement with Topeka High’s AFS Intercultural program that helps integrate foreign exchange students into the school, the school’s Sierra Club and gearing up for Scholars Bowl, and Beall’s plate is as full as it can be.

Well, at least to her standards.
 
“I can’t think of anybody else that’s just done all of that,” Schafer said. “Maybe a Zoe Caryl or one or two other kids that might be at that level. That’s what impresses me about McCall. She doesn’t do all this stuff because other people tell her to or feels pressured to. She does it because she loves it.
 
“But at the same time, she also knows what she’s not capable of. She auditioned for Link Crew, which is the freshman membership program. She got into it and then once she started thinking about everything else on her plate, she knew she did not have time to do that well. So before the year started, she let the teacher know I’m not going to be able to enroll in that. I appreciate that understanding of, ‘If I’m going to do something, I’m going to give it my best and commit to doing it well.’ We have a lot of kids who sign up for everything for a line on their resume. She’s actually involved in everything she does and wants to be a leader in every capacity and is very good at leadership.” 
 
Giving back to Topeka High is something Beall has taken great pride in during her scholastic days and something she fully intends to do in the future. Carrying a 4.38 weighted GPA and having a class schedule loaded not only with honors and AP classes but also college courses taken online through prestigious universities such as Georgetown and Wesleyan (Conn.), Beall’s profession of choice in college could be limitless.
 
But she’s already focused on becoming a teacher, in particular a music teacher.
 
“I thought she’d be a doctor or lawyer with her brightness,” Cruz said. “She came to me and told me I want to be a music teacher. It made me tear up. I told her, ‘Honey, you’re going to be dirt poor. But where ever you go and graduate from and be successful, come back and I’ll hand this over to you and retire.’ We made that joke, but she says yeah I’ll come back here and teach.” 
 
Beall is serious with that intention.
 
“I remember being in elementary school and I would be the person the teacher would ask, “Can you go help them?’ And I would and I was just always told I’d make a great teacher,” she said. “But I was like, ‘I don’t want to be a teacher. They don’t get paid anything.’ And I saw how people treated teachers. But the world needs more good teachers and I hope to be one.
 
“I want to come back to Topeka and teach at Topeka High. That’s the dream. I thought I wanted to get out of Topeka. But about a year ago I sat back and thought, ‘Everyone I love is here. Everything I love is here. I don’t want to go and start over somewhere else.’ People are like ‘Topeka sucks.’ It really doesn’t. If you’re bored, it’s because you’re not doing enough. It’s not where you are, it’s what you make of it.” 
 
And Beall has made the most of her high school career.
 
“If I told 14-year-old me I’d be doing all these things when I’m 17, she’d be scared for me. But it’s all been good,” Beall said. “The only thing I knew I wanted to do going into high school was band and STUCO. The rest kind of came with time. You find teachers you like and they have an organization and you join. Or you have friends, so you want to do things with them. Socially, you just gravitate toward different things. I definitely always wanted to be involved. I never thought I’d be as involved as I am.

“It’s been fast-paced and chaotic, but really satisfying. People say you can look back on high school and regret not doing more. I’m trying to do everything so I can look back fondly and not mournfully. Honestly, I’ve done most of what I want to do.”