User talk:Jameslukose

Introduction

James Lukose is the the son of Pannivelil Chacko and Shaji Lukose. He is a Knanaya Catholic. He was born in Caritas Hospital on December 21, 1985 at Kerala, India. He has two sisters, Anu Ann Lukose and Manu Maria Lukose. They are twins. Manu is older than Anu for five minutes. He lived in Kaduthuruthy, Kottayam from 1985 to 1996.

Life in India

His baptism was on April 4, 1986 at St. Mary’s Catholic Church. Baptism is one of the sacraments in Catholic domination. His godfather was his father’s brother in law, Dr. P.T. Joseph and his godmother was his paternal grandmother, Mary Chacko. His sister’s holy communion was also on that day. He started going to nursery (before pre-kindergarten) on June 6, 1989 in St. Joseph Elementary School. The school started at 10:00 AM and ended at 3:00 PM, where he learned Malayalam and English alphabetic orders and numbers (1-100). He wrote everything on a slate (small chalkboard). That is how he practiced to learn them. Everyday, he brought a slate and a chalk to school. He started going to Catechism (Sunday school) in June 15, 1990 at St. Mary’s Catholic Church. It was on every Sunday, which started at 10:30 AM and ended at 11:30 AM.

After nursery, he started going to LKG (pre-kindergarten) in Tagoore Elementary School, where he learned numbers up to 1000, addition, and subtraction. After LKG (pre-kindergarten), he started going to UKG (kindergarten) on June 7, 1991 in St. Kuriakose Public School. The school started at 9:30 AM and ended at 4:00 PM. Then, from UKG (kindergarten) to the beginning of 5th grade, he learned multiplications and divisions, fractions, word-solving problems, GCF, GCM, LCM, etc. Other subject that he had were English, Malayalam, Hindi, Science, Social Studies, Physical Education, Art, Computer, Library Research, and Music. When he was in 1st grade, he went to a competition for common knowledge. He got the first rank in the state of Kerala, where he got a state award from the Minister of Kerala, A.M. Thomas. He got lots of awards and medals from school for winning competitions and getting highest grade in the class. His father was running an industry of Hollow bricks and used to sell them to people. There were four workers in his industry to make these bricks. His mother was a housewife. In 1983, his uncle sponsored his family to come to United States of America. On September 18, 1995, his family got a form where they could apply for Visa to go to the USA. It took twelve years to get this form. Therefore, they went to a travel agency in their town and they helped them to fill out this form. Then, his family sent this form to the U.S. Embassy in Madras, India. After three months, the U.S. Embassy called them to come to Madras to get fingerprinted. His parents and his two sisters went to Madras to get this done. They only allowed people who are over 16 years old to get the fingerprinted. Therefore, he did not have to go to Madras because he was only 9 years old. Therefore, he stayed at his uncle's house for six days.

After six months, the U.S. Embassy called them to come and get the Visa. Therefore, they went to the U.S. Embassy in Madras. It was a Caucasian woman who interviewed us. If they did not understand what this woman said, there was an Indian man who stood beside her to help them. He translated English into their language. They answered them perfectly. They also checked them to see if they had diseases. They got five Visas for five people. His holy communion was on April 4, 1996 at St. Xavier’s Catholic Church.

Life in America

On October 6, 1996, they came to Texas. It was the happiest day in their life. They could not believe that they are free in this country. James Lukose was 10 years old when he first saw different color people. It was strange, scary, and frightening to see white and black colored people, red and brown eyes. He thought they had costumes on. He had only seen brown skin people with black hair. Everything was different here. The climate was so cold. When he saw something white on the ground, he thought somebody went up in an airplane and dropped lots and lots of tiny pieces of paper down on the ground. It was the first time he saw snow.

He went to 5th grade in Beasley Elementary School. When he went to school, he could not speak English and the teacher did not speak Malayalam, his mother tongue. He knew how to write and read in English. However, it was hard to speak in English. He could not understand what to do. It was very difficult. American kids showed him how to play American sports. Then, they became friends. American schools were very different from Indian schools. In India, he needed to memorize everything where in America he had plenty of home works. Eating in the cafeteria at the beginning was so difficult. He had never eaten cheese or butter. He had never used a fork or a knife. About five other Indian kids in his room had been in America longer. Therefore, they showed him how to use a fork and knife. At first, he did not like the food such as cheese, salad, and pizza. The foods he hated are some of his favorite foods now. He studied the second semester in the 5th grade and the first semester in the 6th grade in Beasley Elementary School.

On January 1998, his family and he moved to McKinney. He went to Faubion Middle School. He started Faubion the second semester of the 6th grade. He had learned many things from this school, where he learned how to type and how to design web pages, etc. In addition, he learned Spanish. His first website came out in August 15, 1999. He went to Chicago on October 1998, where he saw Sears Tower and some other places. Summer of 1999, he went to the Knanaya Catholic Convention of North America in Houston. It was very interesting and a unique experience. He went to California on the Thanksgiving Break of 1999, where he saw Golden Bridge, Crooked Street, China Town, Coit Tower, Sacramento, and San Francisco etc. His 8th grade graduation was on May 14, 2000. That was his last year in Faubion Middle School.

When he was in 9th grade, he started going to Naaman Forest High School on August 14, 2000 at Garland, Texas. His confirmation was on May 1, 2001 in St. Joseph’s Catholic Church at Garland, TX. It was two years of study. Bishop Galante was the bishop who confirmed him. He went to India on the summer vacation of 2001. His sisters got married. Manu married to Philip Jacob Thodukayil. Anu married to Jacob James Parampattu. Even though, he was raised in India for about 10 years, he had a tough time in India on that summer. It was scary.

During his sophomore year, he became an officer, a treasurer, and a web designer, for Knanaya Catholic Association of Dallas. Being active in this association taught him the value of being a Knanaya Catholic. The summer of 2002, he went to New York. It was great. He enjoyed there every single seconds. He saw Hudson River, Statue of Liberty, World Trade Center (Ground Zero), Palisades Mall, Perkins Drive, and Yonkers Race Way, etc. On October 2001, he started going to All American Driving School and got his driving license on March 2002. He started working in Nicholson Memorial Public Library (Central) on December 19, 2003 where he was part of the periodical and reference sections. His parents gave him a 1996 Toyota Corolla on his 17th birthday. He enrolled in Richland College on spring 2003 in order to take classes on evenings and weekends. He was very active in many organizations during his high school years such as BETA, Future Business Leaders of America, Health Occupations Students of America (2003 – 2004 Treasurer), Health Science Technology, Clinical Rotation I, II, Knanaya Catholic Youth League (Web Designer) (2002 Treasurer), Light Brigade, Mu Alpha Theta, National Forensics League, National Honor Society, National Spanish Honor Society (2003 – 2004 Treasurer), Rangers Help Rangers, Speech and Debate Club, St. Joseph Catholic Church’s Youth Group, Student Council, Web Mastering Geeks, and Who’s Who. He graduated from Naaman on May 29, 2004 with Distinguished Achievement and Texas Scholar.

The best education he received in high school was his participation in Clinical Rotation. The purpose of this program was to observe each department at a hospital four hours a week. By rotating at Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas for Clinical Rotation in his junior year, he had begun his dream of participating in the medical field. His experiences at the hospital had been one of ecstasy and satisfaction. Through it all, he has concluded that a pharmacist’s profession is what truly interests him. It had become clear to him that being a pharmacist would be the cornerstone of his life. In his senior year, he took Clinical Rotation 2 and chose the pharmacy technician program where he could be a CPhT (Certified Pharmacy Technician). One of his greatest accomplishments during his high school career was passing the pharmacy technician exam and becoming a CPhT.

After high school, he went to University of Texas in Austin for his prerequisites. He was active in Indian Cultural Association, Indian Student Association, Jester East Wellness Program, Knanaya Catholic Association of Dallas, Leadership Education and Progress program, Longhorn Pre-Pharmacy Association, Partnerships to Advance Language Study and Cultural Exchange, Residential Peer Arbitration Leaders, Surge, and University Catholic Center. He was also a volunteer for Dr. John Richburg’s Toxicology Lab at the UT College of Pharmacy. During Spring Break 2006, he went to Salt Lake City, Utah and Pocatello, Idaho. In summer 2006, he got an Associate Degree in Science from Richland College.

Current Life

Today, he is a student at University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. He is happy that he is in a free country. The color of people does not scare him anymore. He thinks how silly it was to be afraid. Today, he can type fifty-five words per minute. Everyone is the same inside with the same feelings. Some of his interests are analyzing, biking, cars, CIA, computer, dreaming, health related, Knanaya, languages, NMLS, photography, racing, traveling, and volunteering. He speaks English and Malayalam. He knows a little bit of Hindi, Tamil, and Spanish. Jesus Christ is his Lord and Savior forever.