Waking up at four in the morning to feed her exotic birds, beating skin cancer, and practically living in Orono’s Newspaper/Yearbook lab isn’t quite the definition of normal.
According to Licki Odland-Halicki (a.k.a. Licki), she describes herself as "strange".
“People say I have a weird life,” Licki said. “I have interesting things, and there’s not normal things about me.”
Licki lived in Minneapolis most of her life, but surprisingly being a city girl wasn’t really her thing. Growing up she loved going to summer camps and being outside.
“I’ve always really loved the outdoors, I’m very outdoorsy.” Licki said.
Licki was always surrounded by animals throughout her life as well. She has birds, cats and dogs. She mentioned that her dog keeps her disciplined and that the dog goes with her everywhere. Even to the gas station.
Not only does Licki like the outdoors and being with her animals, but she likes learning about science and mathematics. In the next ten years Licki believes she’ll still be in school. Her goal is to be out of school by the time she is thirty five. She plans on going to Normandale Community College to get her "generals out of the way" then she wants to double major in neuroscience and biochem. With that, she wants to become a highly accomplished neurosurgeon.
Although Licki excels in science and math, one thing she struggles with is English.
“I’m super dyslexic and I struggle with reading comprehension,” Licki said. “I’m a horrible English student, but I still love to write.”
Taking her passion for writing to a whole different level, Licki continues to challenge herself by writing articles through Orono’s student publication The Spartan Speaks. She believes it’s important to get the facts out to the world.
“Journalism to me means the ability to express opinions and express the facts in something that people maybe don’t want you to know about, but it’s still important to put it out there and give everyone the full story then they make their own conclusions,” said Licki.
Overall, Licki is a very interesting person. She’s unique in her own way and that’s why we all love her!