Introduction to the Jack of all Trades

Hi fellow bloggers! My name is Ellie Hummel. I’m a senior Mathematical Chemistry major at the University of Oklahoma and I start medical school at the University of Oklahoma’s College of Medicine in August of 2017. I started my undergraduate career at Oklahoma State University, but transferred to OU after discovering that Stillwater just wasn’t the place for me.

I’ve been blessed to have been able to live in a variety of places. I was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. I moved to Calgary, Alberta, before finally ending up in Tulsa, Oklahoma and calling Oklahoma home. I have two older brothers and one younger sister. When I was very young, I had my older sister pass away from heart failure; this is what inspired me to want to attend medical school.

Though I’m particularly passionate about medicine and helping people, my interests are also all over the board. I love reading; my dad used to read to me every day in my favorite reading chair and I’ve been hard-pressed to be seen without a book since. I love music; I play the piano and have since my parents first forced me to when I was 8 years old. I love cooking; the endless combinations and possibilities always excites me.

I’m a bit of an adrenaline junkie as well; I love a good adventure. Whether it’s hiking, sky diving, snowboarding, kayaking, mountain biking, scuba diving-you name it, I love it! I particularly love anything that I can do outdoors. I don’t know if it’s the fresh air or the sunshine, but something about being outdoors makes me happy. I recently picked up running and decided I love the challenge of constantly pushing my body to see how much it can take. I recently ran my first half-marathon and am in training for my first marathon. I also recently did my first triathlon, and am in training for the next one.

Caption: personal photo of myself from February of 2016.

Week 1 Story: The Marvelous Lion

Ronan was a strong, fierce warrior in his younger years. He loved his pride and guarded them with everything he had to offer. Though he would do anything for the ones he loved in his pride, the rest of the animal kingdom had reason to fear and respect Ronan.

Ronan was fast and never lost his kill. He never killed for sport and made his kills as quick as possible. Still, when Ronan marked you for his kill, there was no getting free. Ronan’s favorite meal was antelope; they were more of a challenge to catch than other animals. Ronan said that antelopes were “juicy and rewarding.”

Ronan’s death was a direct consequence of his love for antelopes. Ronan, being the strongest and fastest in the pride, was tasked with teaching the cubs how to hunt. His favorite cub was Klinga. Klinga was a silly, uncoordinated little cub who happened to be the runt of his litter. Klinga would never amount to much in the pride, but Ronan loved him all the same.

One day, Ronan was out teaching the cubs how to hunt antelope. Klinga was all-too-eager to be the first to make a kill. He ran out in the pack of antelopes, with no clear kill in mind, trying to find the baby of the group. The antelopes, much bigger than Klinga, began to attack him and push him away from their group. Ronan, tasked with the wellbeing of all the cubs, didn’t know what to do. He didn’t wish to leave the other cubs unguarded but couldn’t bear to see Klinga injured like that. Ronan jumped in front of Klinga right as the antelopes were charging with their long, pointed pronghorns.

Klinga had his eyes closed and opened them to see Ronan laying in front of him, bleeding from enormous wounds in his side. Ronan said to Klinga, “take the cubs back to the pride and make sure they make it home safely.” Klinga, overcome with sadness, ran back to the cubs before he could say anything else.

Ronan was respected by the animals in the animal kingdom, particularly by the antelopes. He only killed for meat and killed quickly, unlike many other lions. When they had seen what they had done, the antelopes left Ronan to die on his own. Ronan, just a young lion, couldn’t believe his life had come to this. He slowly, painfully dragged himself to his favorite cave, not far from where he was laying. There, he hoped to die peacefully on his own, remembering all of his favorite times in life. These hopes were dashed though, when he saw some familiar animals heading his way…

Author’s note: A lion lay sick and dying in his cave. Instead of the other animals leaving him to die on his own, they all come in and take advantage of the dying lion. They make him suffer more and hurt the lion. The moral of the story is that only cowards will act that way when they know that they cannot be harmed in return. I wanted to give the lion a back story that showed the fierce warrior he was in his lifetime, explaining why all the other animals only dared to approach him when he was dying and incapable of harming them. 

Bibliography: “The Sick Lion” from Aesop’s Fables by Aesop.

Caption: Cecil the lion at Hwange National Park. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cecil_the_lion_at_Hwange_National_Park_(4516560206).jpg