Saturday, January 16, 2016

Introduction to the Marathon Biochemist

Hi Everyone! My name is Jordan Shayne Thompson. I have a boy name, courtesy of none other than my father. First and foremost I am a Christian and love the Lord wholeheartedly. I have a heart for missions, and I have been all over the world doing them. 

Me playing with the kids on one of my mission trips. 
They always wanted to take pictures. 



I am 22 years of age. I grew up in Southwest Oklahoma. I am a proud Okie through and through, but I love to travel A LOT. For 2016 I plan to travel to Canada, Mexico, Iceland, Italy, the Vatican, and Germany. I am severely addicted to marathons. I have run eight marathons and one ultra marathon (more than 26.2 miles). I love to travel to different states to run. I am currently planning on running one in Washington and just got back from Nebraska, Arizona, and Tennessee! 

                                                     After finishing the Houston Marathon I stopped to take a picture 
                                                              with my finisher medal at NASA Space Center



I am a senior studying biochemistry with a Religious Studies minor. I am applying to medical school this summer, so prayers would be appreciated. I want to become and ER doctor. I love the adrenaline rush and the shift work. I also want to help others that cannot afford healthcare. It makes me sad that people die, even in Oklahoma, because they cannot afford treatment. 
Only until the beginning of my senior year did I switch to a Religious Studies minor. I took Islamic Theology because after traveling through some Middle Eastern countries and Southeast Asia I became really interested in Islam. I became fascinated with the religion and dropped my mathematics minor and switched to religious studies. 
I love sports. I played all through high school, but after tearing all the ligaments in my knees three times I could not go to college and play. It is okay because I am a secret nerd. I love Star Wars and will talk theory with anyone at anytime. The Periodic Table is the coolest. Recently adding four new elements to the Table is worth celebrating. I was a NASA intern and did research for them. I designed nucleases for their Synthetic Biology Department. It was tons of fun and learned so much. I am also an avid knitter, so if you have any cool things for me to try then please let me know.
One of my friends and I posing after a long day presenting our research.

16 comments:

  1. Wow, I have a lot of stamina for a lot of things... but not for running. How great that you have challenged yourself again and again with a race like that, where you have to have so much strength of body and mind to get to the finish. That is really cool! And it is always exciting to have Religious Studies students in this class. This class is focused on the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, but during the Mughal period in India, there was enormous interest in these epics on the part of the Mughal rulers, so a lot of the art that you will be seeing in the class webpages is Islamic art. The back-and-forth between the different religions of India (Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, Islam, Zoroastrianism, etc.) is really profound, so I hope this class can be a good chance for you to explore that beautiful dimension of Indian culture and history!

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  2. Jordan I really enjoyed reading about you in your introduction. I myself am actually training for my first half marathon this upcoming March (I know it’s nothing compared to all of your marathons lol). I would love to continue to train and run my first marathon soon. Also, I find it awesome that you interned with NASA this past summer. I actually visited the NASA center this past summer when I was in Houston for my internship and I loved it. And yes the periodic table is awesome!
    Nice to meet you!
    -Trevor Eckard-

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  4. Awesome meeting you Jordan! First off, can we be life long friends? I also love traveling, my dad lived in Italy for about three years so I got to visit him during the summers and travel around. So far I have been too, England, Italy, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, and I just spent my break in Costa Rica! Oh and if you want too talk Star Wars Theory, I'll be here.

    It is awesome you run so much. I really like working out but really hate running. That is one of my goals this semester is to start running more.

    AND THAT NASA INTERNSHIP?! My friend had that and I just can't find myself to go that far away from home.

    It was nice to meet you!

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  5. Wow you have a ton of stuff going on. How do you afford to travel to all of these places? I would love to make it to Vatican City or to Germany. We just got back from a trip to San Gervasio in Mexico. It was a ton of fun touring the ruins of Ixchel. Kudos and good luck on the medical career. That is a lot of work but very rewarding!

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  6. I can't believe you have run so many marathons at 22! I plan on running a marathon one day too. I love to travel too! I'm jealous of all the travel you have done, those places sound like a lot of fun. That is so impressive that you interned for NASA! I can't imagine how cool that must have been. It's really nice to "meet" you.

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  7. Wow Jordan I am so impressed! I can't believe you interned with NASA! That is so cool! I desperately want to travel! I just haven't been able to yet. I am curious, which ones were missions trips? Also, props to you for your running passion. That is something I wish I could love doing! I am also a huge Star Wars fan! Feel free to talk Star Wars theories anytime! It was so nice to meet you Jordan!

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  8. Jordan,

    It is nice meeting you. And you do not have a boy’s name. I think Jordan is a beautiful name for girls. I cannot believe that you are so involved and active in everything. Where do you find the energy and time? And how in the heck do you stay in shape? I find it great that you do mission work. It’s such a rewarding experience! I hope you have a wonderful semester and I’m sending good energy towards your way in hopes you getting into med school!

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  9. Jordan,

    So nice to meet you! I love the mission work you are doing for Him. I aspire to go on a mission trip, but I probably will not go until sometime after college. That’s amazing that you are able to visit all of those places and travel so vastly! I also love to travel and experience new cultures and places. That is big time that you interned with NASA and run marathons. I feel like those things would be a dream for most people to do independently and you did both so young! It was great to meet you and good luck the rest of the semester!

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  10. Hi Jordan! It was great to read about you. I think it’s awesome that you are so into being a Christian and that you have traveled on mission’s trips to help other people. I also think it is really cool that you do marathons in different states that awesome. Good luck at applying to med school this summer and becoming an ER doctor!

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  11. Hey Jordan, it was nice to learn a little about you and what you have been able to so far in your life. It seems like you have been blessed with many opportunities and it is cool that you have been able to do so much. I think it is neat that you were an intern at NASA. Thanks for sharing and I look forward to reading some of your stories.

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  12. Hey Jordan,
    It is nice to meet you. Wohoo!!! You will be traveling a lot in 2016. That is exciting! I love to travel, and I am hoping that I can travel few new places this 2016. I wish you all the best for your medical school. Your thoughts about helping those who cannot afford healthcare is impressive. I hope you succeed in what you dream of. Good luck!

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  13. Hello Jordan,
    I enjoyed reading your introduction. It is great how you can run a lot which requires a lot of stamina, which not many people have. Honestly, I cannot run that much either. Wish you all the best with getting in to medical school. I am looking forward to read more of your blogs. It was nice meeting with you. Thanks for sharing.

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  14. Wow Jordan you sure stay busy. That is so cool that despite your injury keeping you from playing sports in college that you still run marathons so avidly. I love to run but have never done a marathon so I may try that some day. Bless and prayers for you medical school applications! And good luck with the rest of your semester.

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  15. I gotta love your passion for service, Jordan. I too am saddened when I hear that people forgo medical treatment because they cannot afford it. No one should have to suffer because of financial issues. I think that you're the first person I have ever heard say that the period table is "the coolest". I'm not hating. I was pretty excited to find out that our generation experienced a leap year on the turn of a century (the year 2000). This only occurs once every 400 years! Like the periodic table, most people probably find this very un-cool. But, as the great 50 Cent once said, "if they hate, then let them hate and watch the money pile up."

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  16. Hi there Jordan! It's very awesome reading about your inspirations and goals in life. You yourself are an inspiration! Congrats on applying, prayers will definitely be given! I like that you have such a determination in getting help where it is needed the most. I too, want to help people get the medication whenever and wherever they need it. Good luck with everything, you'll do great!

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