She’s the girl you might see in the lunch room, hastily eating half of a salami and cheese sandwich, laughing with her friends, and then grabbing her bag, dumping her tray, and dashing off to the band room, where she’ll practice until the bell.

Megan Murdoch isn’t just the amazing French horn player from Dubois who made All State and All Northwest this year. She’s also seasoned traveller, a language enthusiast, and a pursuer of the art of mismatching socks.

Before this school year, Murdoch lived in Dubois, Wyo. (between Sheridan and Jackson Hole, for those of you whose Wyoming geography is a little rusty). Dubois is a cute little tourist town with pretty mountains, desert rock formations, and an all-wood downtown. Murdoch’s parents own a restaurant in Dubois, and when they opened the Cowboy Cafe in downtown Sheridan, Murdoch decided to move to Sheridan.

Though Murdoch misses all of the people she grew up with in Dubois, she’s happy about the number of opportunities available for her a Sheridan High School.

“I like the music program; it’s amazing here. The whole school is really nice. So are the people.” Murdoch paused for a moment to gather her thoughts and nodded, “I really like this place.”

As far as music goes, Murdoch is headstrong and hardwoking. When she started band, her band teacher told her she could pick any instrument to learn except the French horn because it was too hard. So naturally, Murdoch chose the French horn.

On the horn, Murdoch noted, “It is the most epic musical instrument in the history of the world.”

Murdoch practices before school, after school, at lunch, at home, any chance she gets, “It’s the most relaxing thing in my day.”

Her consistent practicing paid off, and two weeks ago, Murdoch travelled to Spokane, Wash., to play in the All Northwest band. Murdoch sat first chair in the second horns.

Murdoch also plays in the high school’s symphonic band and symphony orchestra.

Earlier this school year, Murdoch played for the Lady Bronc varsity basketball team. However, since she hadn’t played last year and was working on college, school work, and music, she didn’t have enough time to dedicate to it to perform her best. Murdoch loves basketball, but she decided to use her time to focus on her other responsibilities.

Before coming to Sheridan, Murdoch spent her junior year in Santa Rosa, La Pampa, which is in the middle of Argentina. (I repeat, geography.)

Murdoch decided to do a foreign exchange because she wanted to experience something outside of her small Wyoming town, and her interest in Spanish landed her in Argentina.

Murdoch had a difficult time deciding what she enjoyed most about her exchange. “My favorite part was the openness, the connectedness. I don’t have a word for it exactly. I loved the deeper relationships between the people, how close they were. The way people talked to each other was different. It seemed more real.”

Even though she took three years of Spanish before she left, Murdoch admits she basically had no Spanish background before she went to Argentina. By the time she left, she spoke it fluently. Because her mother is from France, Murdoch also fluently speaks French.

After graduation, Murdoch plans on studying music or language at Washington State University, the University of Wyoming, or Colorado State University.

Murdoch is the daughter of Sevrine and Robert Murdoch.