Maggie McClendon has accomplished something previously unheard of at the University of Tennessee at Martin – she is in her senior year as an engineering student at UT Martin, and last September, she won the crown of Miss Weakley County Volunteer.
McClendon has had experience in pageants before this one, starting when she was 5. Throughout middle and high school, pageants took a bit of a back seat, but in college, she has been able to focus on them more. She has competed in pageants in Tennessee and Kentucky, and won the title of Miss UT Martin Rodeo in her freshman year.
“West Tennessee is very big on pageants, so it really got my gears back going, and I’m so excited to be back around it again,” she said.
In pageants, the contestants have a chance to show their special talents. McClendon’s talent is lyrical dance. She started in ballet when she was 4. She was on the dance team in every school she attended, including UTM. This is her fourth year on the university’s dance team. She said that dancing lets her support her school from the sidelines.
At the Miss Tennessee Volunteer Pageant, McClendon hopes to expand the reach of her platform. Her platform is entitled “22 a day” to bring awareness of veteran suicides. This issue is close to her heart because almost everyone in her family has served in the military.
“I want to be able to help any veteran possible,” McClendon said.
McClendon is well connected here in Weakley County and in her hometown of Clarksville. In Clarksville, she works with the USO to organize events for veterans, like welcome-homes, sends packages to them while they are gone, and provides them with anything they may need while they are home.
She works with Rolling Thunder in Weakley County to keep in touch with veterans on the UT Martin campus and around Weakley County.
On her engineering path, McClendon has benefitted from the completion of the Latimer-Smith Engineering and Science Building. A project management class she took in the fall 2024 semester was able to utilize the building plans of Latimer-Smith to teach the students how to read plans. Then, they got to go to each floor to see how the plans translated from the page to the building itself. This class showed them real-life examples, and she was able to implement thar knowledge into her summer internship.
McClendon’s plans for her engineering degree include returning to Clarksville and working full-time with the company where she has been interning, the TTL engineering design firm. She has already helped design parking lots around Clarksville and wants to continue the work of helping her hometown.
The Miss Tennessee Volunteer Pageant is the next step after the Miss Weakley County Pageant. She will compete July 23-26 in Jackson. This pageant opens even more doors for the women who compete, giving their platforms more attention and support. McClendon is grateful for the support she has gotten in Weakley County and is excited to see where this support can take her next.
PHOTO: Maggie McClendon, a senior engineering major from Clarksville, is shown being crowned Miss Weakley County Volunteer last September. Upon graduation, she hopes to work full-time at the TTL engineering firm, where she has served as an intern.
