"She really enjoys achieving and striving for goals that, for her, may be hard," Chapman said. "We don't have to push. We're just the hands that help her move along."

Chapman assists Rees with school's physical tasks, such as note-taking. On a recent December morning, she also taped to a desk the watercolor painting Rees — with a brush clenched between her teeth — worked to complete.

Rees has little use of her right hand, but fairly good control of at least one digit on her left. She uses it to text message friends — "That's my hobby right now," she says — uses a computer keyboard and mouse, and is taking desktop publishing and, next semester, Web design.

But Rees has good control of her head. So when an adapted, hand-held paintbrush didn't work well in class, Rees tried her teeth. When the wood of her brushes splintered, a dentist treated them to withstand the wear.

Today, Rees gracefully applies paint to the brush tip, then carries it to her canvas — in one class in late December, a budding watercolor of a blooming clematis. She gently strokes the brush along the flower's outline, creating smooth, sweeping lines — the same as she's done to transform sketches into oil paintings of her family, landscapes, and even a self-portrait, hanging in a school commons area.

Rees' artistic talents intrigued orthopedic surgeon Dr. Peter Stevens, who commissioned a portrait of his golden, mixed-breed dog, Diggity. The Primary Children's Medical Center surgeon, who has known Rees since she was 2 years old and performed surgeries on her legs so she can more easily transfer from her wheelchair and perhaps walk short distances, planned to give the portrait to his wife for Christmas.

"(Megan) has not only overcome the physical disability but excelled in a way nobody would have predicted. Not only is she bright, but she is painting with her mouth, which I find extraordinary," Stevens said. "I do some painting and I know I couldn't do it with my mouth; I can barely do it with my hands."

Stevens is among a half-dozen commissioning requests Rees has received. She's thinking of accepting only one other, from Riverton High football coach Mike Miller, whom she met en route to his job interview at the school. They've been pals since.

"She does things I can't do," Miller said. "She achieves above her supposed limitations. I don't see her as limited. . . . I think in (some) areas, she's gifted."

Rees is in AP art class. She always completes her homework for that, and every other class, on time, Chapman said. She maintains a 3.9 grade point average.

But perhaps more than academics, Rees is known for how she makes people feel. She has a bright smile for everyone she meets, and an even warmer one for those she knows.