NATCHEZ — When Cathedral High School junior Taylor White isn’t getting carded on the soccer field, she enjoys the creative precision of acrylic on canvas.

White’s passion is soccer, but her grandmother and art teacher helped her hone her less aggressive side.

Last year, White learned she won best in show in the Mississippi Junior Duck Stamp Art Competition, which is sponsored by the Museum of Natural Science, a division of the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks.

Her picture of a Northern Pintail in the foreground of a sky colored with hues inspired by hazy orange sunsets often encountered in Natchez is now on tour around the country with the top winners from every state.

White was also awarded Most Valuable Defensive Player as sophomore on the varsity soccer team last year. Only two other girls in her grade played on the varsity team.

White said she likes soccer because it’s aggressive. She said she has not received too many penalty cards, but she has received a few.

“I don’t play dirty, but I play aggressive,” White said.

White said she would love to play soccer at the University of Southern Mississippi after she graduates. Wherever she ends up, White said she would like to take up art as a hobby on the side.

White said she loved doodling as a child, and her grandmother, Ann Worthington, encouraged her art by buying her sketchbooks.

When she took Art I from Andree Gamberi at Cathedral last year, she rediscovered her love and talent for art.

As an Art II student this year, White said she plans to take art with Gamberi until she graduates.

Cathedral art class exposed White to pencil and shaving, block carving, two-point perspective, watercolor and charcoal. But she said acrylic on canvas — which she used for the duck painting — is her favorite medium.

White said she enjoyed experimenting with color in her duck painting and liked the challenge of making it look realistic.

Another goal she had was to make it look different from the rest of the class.

“I liked the weird mixtures of color,” White said.

In addition to art and soccer, White also runs cross-country. She said she mainly runs cross-country to stay in shape for soccer.

White said her favorite thing about cross-country is how the sport allows her to set goals and challenge herself to beat her own time.

White’s knack for personal challenges help keep her well rounded.

“It’s good to push yourself and not always stick to one thing,” she said.

Taylor White is the daughter of Reagan and Emily White.