PB teenager’s art takes second at Junior Beta Nationals

Poplar Bluff student Kaitlyn Baucom’s drawing of a lion captured a second place win earlier this month at the National Junior Beta Competition at Disney World in Orlando, Florida.

This year was the third time she’s won first place in the state event and the right to compete at nationals. In Savannah, Georgia, two years ago, Baucom placed 10th in the nation. Last year, COVID-19 canceled nationals in Oklahoma.

When school begins this year, Baucom will be a freshman at Poplar Bluff High School.

With a growing interest in zoology, she wants to study animals in the wild as well as those confined before capturing them in her artwork.

“She’s very, very unaware of her talent,” said her grandfather, Steve Hager, who along with his wife, Debbie, are raising Kaitlyn and her sister, Dominique. Steve Hager describes her as “a typical teenager otherwise.”

Baucom’s left hand and lower arm are missing because of amniotic band syndrome, or ABS, which refers to a condition caused by damage to the amnion, the sac that surrounds a baby while they are in the womb. When this sac is damaged, fibrous strings or bands can enter the amniotic fluid.

Baucom’s grandparents taught her “don’t let something that’s out of your control limit you.”

She hasn’t let having one hand limit her, Steve Hager said. She rides a bicycle and his four wheeler. She likes anime and gaming, chess and leads the praise team at Cobblestone Christian Church. She’s taught herself to play guitar, ukulele and piano. She’s been taking volleyball training in Cape Girardeau.

She likes skateboarding, but, Baucom admits, “I have a pretty nifty injury on my knee actually. I did actual nerve damage to it. “

While she hadn’t been to the skateboard park since her injury, she’s painting and designing her board.

Expressing herself with written words is not one of her favorite things. She finds it hard “because I write too much, because my mind set is so broad I can’t shorten it to five sentences in a paragraph. I need to add every single thought I feel necessary or else I won’t be able to directly get my point across. So what I’m trying to say is I get over detailed.”

But, Baucom’s got an eye for art. Using her board mind set, she transforms her subjects onto paper with colored pencil, graphite, charcoal and watercolor.