(Photo by: Khadeeja Saleem)

Imagine walking outside and finding a naked, featherless baby bird in the yard. Then imagine doing all the research you can to learn how to feed it and help it grow into adulthood.

This is exactly what pre-nursing student Maddie King has grown to love.

“Despite going into nursing, I always had a love of animals. As a little kid, I struggled with communication and making friends, so my childhood cat was my best friend. I didn’t need to speak for him to understand me,” King said. “I’ve rehabbed animals ranging from squirrels to cockatiels and iguanas, and about everything in between.”

King has a bird that she has completely hand raised after he was abandoned by his parents at a week old.

“I think I started when I was 14; I started at a really young age. I feel like it’s not an obligation so much as I feel empathy for the critters that can’t take care of themselves. It needs someone,” King said. “I know a lot of people don’t want to step into that position, so I do it just because I have the time and the resources. I try and help out where I can.”

King is applying for the nursing program this winter and is currently an honors student.

“The honors program has honestly been how I’ve met more people at JCCC. Like, everyone knows it’s kind of harder to make friends as you get older,” King said. “So, it’s definitely a close-knit group of people. It’s way less intense than I thought it was gonna be.”

King is also very passionate about making Narcan accessible on campus.

“Almost everyone I know has known someone or seen someone who’s experienced either an addiction or used to be an addict,” King said. “It can save a life so easily. It can stop an active opioid overdose, [including drugs like fentanyl], and as we all know, there’s currently a horrible fentanyl epidemic.”

King, with the help of the others in the honors program, is trying to get more students involved and hopefully speak to the president of JCCC about this issue.

“It’s really difficult because it’s like the old debate of, if we give free condoms, it’s going to promote sex in the youth. If we supply Narcan, is this going to promote [drug use], and how does this look for our school?” King said. “And we are a community college, a public access place, so it’s not just for our school, but [for] the general public.”

Academic advisor for the honors program, Regan Baker, says that King is remarkably humble and determined to make the world a better place.

“She has been a phenomenally strong student at JCCC, joining [the honors program] and continuing to stretch herself while working all the time as a CNA, but she never brags about her achievements or accomplishments. Instead, she really boosts up the people around her, assuring them that they belong,” Baker said.

According to Baker, her friends say she is bubbly, funny and fun to be around.

“She cares about making people feel welcome – in her creative writing class, she brought so many snacks for her peers that she had to get help bringing [them] all in,” Baker said.

High Impact Practices specialist Melissa Nolan describes King as a student who is focused and dedicated to giving back to the community.

“She wants to use her experiences to help others and be a support. Maddie looks for the need, and that is where she goes,” Nolan said.

Nolan also says that King has a quiet confidence and takes everything in, taking notes and asking follow-up questions. When Nolan sees King in the honors lounge, she is always studying or working on homework.

“When she makes a commitment, she sticks with it,” Nolan said. “She is focused on her future. Maddie takes initiative and isn’t afraid to take a risk.”