The year is 2024 and what a year it’s been! The main topics of the year has been a continue recession with increased inflation, climate change, election year regarding our the next President of the United States along with many other topics.

To be honest, we have discussed more negative moments then positive ones, which made me think back about someone I met almost 3 years ago. This individual is Ella Barnum who is currently attending Texas A&M University majoring in Neurology.

I’m not sure if you had the opportunity to read about Ella Barnum back in 2021. In case you didn’t, I had the opportunity to meet this young lady and was amazed by her confidence and motivation. She explained to me how she knew she was meant to be a Neurologist by age 12 and made that idea a path towards reality. Her charisma and intelligence showed me that she was not just a normal female planning to attend college, but someone with many aspirations to fulfill.

It just so happened that I met Ella Barnum again at the University of Austin. She was presenting her poster research project, sponsored by the Neuro-Gut Immune Axis program under the guidance of Dr. Earnest and Dr. Souza.

I was there to view various projects presented by college students attending the University of Austin in reference to health, technology, energy, and climate control. Though this event was mainly an opportunity for students attending the University of Austin, Ella Barnum decided to apply for a spot to be noticed. I must say I enjoyed speaking with various students about their research, but Ella Barnum definitely made an impression as she won The Excellence in Research Communication Award at this special event. That speaks volumes to attend another university’s event and win an award there.

I decided to take this opportunity to follow up by conducting a small interview with Ella Barnum to discover how three years of attending Texas A&M University has been for her.

Ella informed me that she was a member of The Alpha Delta PI Sorority which involved her in many various events with Texas A&M and other organizations. She was elected as the Director of Alumnae Engagement for the sorority by its members due to her positive engagement, organization skills and creativity. She was a member of the MSC Freshman Leadership International. The MSC Freshman Leadership International (MSC FLI) is a freshman leadership organization at Texas A&M University dedicated to promoting cultural understanding and international awareness among the population at the university.

Ella was fortunate to attend Texas A&M University under a President’s Endowed Scholarship Program. This specific program allows various medical doctors and Texas A&M Alumni to sponsor a college undergraduate with monetary funding in the form of a scholarship. Clearly this was not a waste of money as Ella made the Dean’s List in Spring of 2022. She continued to do well by making high academic grades which gave her the special invitation to become a member of the PHI BETA KAPPA HONORS SOCIETY.

Hearing this information even amazed me as I knew the difficulty of gaining attention from this specific organization. For those who don’t know much about PHI BETA KAPPA HONORS SOCIETY, they have very specific requirements for members and you must be invited by them to join the organization. Below are just a few requirements needed to be invited to this highly recognized organization:

• GPA: Seniors should have a GPA of at least 3.7, and juniors should have a GPA of at least 3.9
• Academic achievement: Maintain a strong record of academic achievement
• Liberal arts and sciences: At least three-quarters of your bachelor’s degree courses should focus on liberal arts and sciences
• Foreign language: Demonstrate proficiency in a foreign language
• College-level courses: Pass a college-level pre-calculus course, and complete four semesters of college-level foreign language or its equivalent
• Literature: Fulfill the literature course requirement
• Intellectual curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking: Demonstrate a commitment to intellectual curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking
• Math, logic, or statistics: At least one course in college-level mathematics, logic, or statistics, with content appropriate to a liberal arts and sciences curriculum

This wasn’t her only membership as she was also a member of the PHI KAPPA PHI HONORS SOCIETY and THE ORDER OF OMEGA GREEK HONORS SOCIETY.

I inquired if she just studied and enjoyed the college life of partying and having fun. Ella explained that she did take moments of being a college kid enjoying life when possible. She stated that she was so focused on her future that she knew the importance of being responsible now in order to be successful later. She explained how much she learned by volunteering at St. Joseph Hospital. The truth of reality in medicine and care showed her a small vision of her future to come. She felt true passion towards those she met and assisted. Having this opportunity made her realize that she wanted to be a Medical Neurologist not for the money, but more so for the people and opportunity to change lives and save them.

Ella told me that she was a also a volunteer at the Ronald McDonald House and also volunteered for H.A.B.B.I.T.S. (Humans Against Bad Behaviors In Today’s Society), which is actually an organization that my company donates time and money to.

Ella also informed me that she had the opportunity to be a Research Assistant in the Wang Lab at the Texas A&M Health Science Center in the department of neuroscience and experimental therapeutics. This lead to her winning 3rd place in the Texas A&M Nueral-Gut-Axis Symposium and the Excellence In Research Communication Award at the University of Austin.

Ella explained to me that though she was an undergraduate research scholar, had the opportunity to study abroad in Spain for medicine and was a national merit scholar at Texas A&M, there were difficult times she had to endure.

She informed me of the many times where stress and despair approached her while at college. The amount of information to learn and retain as well as the peer pressure of other students to party, drink alcohol or use various drugs to relieve stress. Not to mention that she always had an exam on or near May 5 which was her birthday that she couldn’t ever celebrate due to studying for a major exam instead. The different approaches of each professor teachings which made her have to “think outside the box” in order to fully understand their tests. She also lost the love of her favorite family member, Lukey, who was the dog always there when she needed him. The ability to prepare herself for taking the MCAT (Medical College Admissions Test) was a “MENTAL HELL IN ITSELF”. Preparing for this Admissions Test with the 800+ flash cards, 50-100 videos, as well as the many different questions and passages from various aspects of Medical history was harder then attending 3 years of college itself.

With so many aspects of college life, both positive and negative, Ella was very fortunate to have few genuine friends there to support her as well as AMAZING FATHER and VERY LOVING MOTHER. She explained that now she understands the definition of appreciation in life as she knows not to take anything for granted moving forward.

Of course, there was so much more that Ella could talk about but I would have to write a novel instead of a news article. I congratulated Ella when she informed me that she was graduating this may instead of May of 2025 making her a college graduate in 3 years instead of 4 years. Whether you know it or not, according the the National Education Statistics of the United States approximately only 10-14% of college students graduate in 3 years versus 4 years.

I inquired what was next on Ella’s future to do list after graduation. She stated that she planned to take a year off as she prepared to apply for Medical Schools and hopefully be approved for the Medical School PHD Program. When asked what Medical Schools were a priority for approval, she mentioned UT Southwestern University and Texas A&M University as her top two hopefuls among the others located in Texas and John Hopkins and Columbia University located in Maryland. She knows of the hidden pressures to come with medical school and residency, but still has motivation and faith to succeed.

I don’t know much about medicine, but I feel that any university that accepted Ella Barnum would be lucky to have her as part of their medical program. Being a member of the National Press Club of Washington, D.C. I have read alot about the struggles of succeeding in today’s society. I have seen how stressful life has become for Generation Z and Generation A who are trying to discover themselves while hoping for a possible future in the long run. When I speak to individuals like Ella Barnum that continues to succeed in life no matter the many road blocks they endure along the way, it shows there is hope for the future of medicine, science and America itself.

I was honored to have the ability to speak to Ella Barnum once more and see that it was truly worth my time to write an article about her back in July 0f 2021. Though I may not stay in touch with Ella Barnum, I feel that I will definitely hear about her in the future as a Medical Neurosurgeon (hopefully for the State of Texas as I am a Texas Resident), and how well here passion for medicine is shown through her engagements with her future patients.

Thank you for your time in reading this and look forward to more from Get Up Radio Media on www.news.getupradio.com and www.worldnews.getupradio.com. The world never sleeps so make sure to “GET UP” with life, music and the world with Get Up Radio Media Broadcasting.

Alan Cousin

Founder of Get Up Radio / Get Up Radio Media Broadcasting

Member of the National Press Club of Washington, D.C. ( www.press.org)