 |
|
|||||||
|
||||||||
|
|
Hummingbirds give Kelley a career path
Sometimes it only takes one thing to inspire someone for a brand new career path.
For Dean Kelley, it was the hummingbird.
“I’ve been fascinated with them since I was a kid,” Kelley said. “They can hover and fly upside down, stuff no other bird can. They can chase off eagles. They’re not afraid of anything.”
It was this fascination that led Kelley to his new path: biology.
“I wanted to see how things work,” Kelley said. “I just wanted to make a difference in nature, though I haven’t picked out a specialty yet.”
Kelley said he worked as a journeyman electrician for about eight years before injuring himself. “I hurt myself and had to think what I really wanted to do — and it just hit me,” Kelley said. “Just the love of learning how things come together.”
According to biology instructor Lee Mitchell, Kelley, who is starting his second year in the program, is taking that love and applying it to everyday life.
“He’s trying to link what he’s learning to what he already knows,” Mitchell said. Mitchell enjoys it when he can “look in the eyes and see the gears turning,” as he can with Kelley.
Kelley said “taking past experience and linking it to the new one” helps him learn.
“I do a lot of outside study that has to with various things,” Kelley said.
Mitchell said, “He’s obviously interested in learning stuff, not just what it takes to get a good grade in the class.”
Outside of school, Kelley still finds ways to relate his interests to his studying at MHCC. “I love to fly remote control helicopters,” Kelley said. “They’re tied with hummingbirds; they can do everything the hummingbirds can do.”
While he hasn’t picked a specialty in biology, Kelley said he can see himself spending his life and career dealing with hummingbirds.
“Because they are decreasing, because of development destroying the forest,” Kelley said. “I just want to make sure they’re with us 20 years from now.”
For Kelley, this is biology. It comes down to isolating an issue and a person that can “try to make it right and do whatever you can.”
This feature is one in a continuing Advocate series of profiles on MHCC students.
The Advocate reserves the right to not publish comments based on their appropriateness.