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, in Kerala, India. He has two sisters, Anu Ann Lukose and Manu Maria Lukose. They are twins. Manu is older than Anu by five minutes. He lived in Kaduthuruthy, Kottayam from 1985 to 1996.
His baptism was on April 4, 1986, at St. Mary’s Catholic Church. Baptism is a religious act of purification by water usually associated with admission to membership or fullness of membership of Christianity. In Catholic teaching, baptism plays an essential role in salvation. 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, where he learned Malayalam and English alphabets and numbers (1-100). He started going to Catechism (Sunday school) on June 15, 1990 at St. Mary’s Catholic Church.
After nursery, he started going to LKG (pre-kindergarten) at 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 at St. Kuriakose Public School. 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. Then, from UKG (kindergarten) to the beginning of 5th grade, he learned multiplication and division, fractions, word-solving problems, etc. Other subject that he had were English, Malayalam, Hindi, Science, Social Studies, Physical Education, Art, Computer, Library Research, and Music. He got lots of awards and medals from school for winning competitions and getting highest grade in the class. His father was running a brick industry and used to sell them to people. There were four workers in his industry to make these bricks.
In 1983, his uncle sponsored his family to come to United States of America (USA). 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. In addition, 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 fingerprinted. Therefore, he did not have to go to Madras because he was only 9 years old.
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 woman who interviewed them. If they did not understand what this woman said, there was an Indian interpreter who stood beside her to help them. He translated English into their language. The family answered the questions perfectly. The U.S. Embassy also checked the family to see if they had diseases. They got five visas for five people. Before leaving to USA, he had his holy communion on April 4, 1996 at St. Xavier’s Catholic Church.
On October 6, 1996, they came to Texas (TX). It was the happiest day of their life. They could not believe that they are free in this country. James Lukose was 10 years old when he first saw a variety of ethnicities. It was strange, scary, and frightening to see white and black colored people, blue and brown eyes. He thought they had costumes on. He had only seen brown skinned 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 in Mesquite, TX. 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 students 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 homework. 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 students 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 cheese, salad, and pizza. The foods he had 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, he and his family moved to McKinney, TX. 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 the Sears Tower and some other places. He also visited Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Tennessee. The summer of 1999, he went to the Knanaya Catholic Convention of North America in Houston, Texas. He went to California on the Thanksgiving Break of 1999, where he saw the Golden Gate Bridge, Crooked Street, China Town, Coit Tower, Oakland, Walnut Creek, Sacramento, and San Francisco, etc. He also visited Arizona and Nevada. 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 religious study. Bishop Galante was the bishop who confirmed him. He went to India on summer vacation of 2001. He also visited Frankfurt, Germany on the way to India. His sisters got married. Manu married Philip Jacob Thodukayil. Anu married Jacob James Parampattu. Even though he was raised in India for about 10 years, he had a tough time in India on that summer.
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. 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, 2002, where he was part of the periodical and reference sections. His parents gave him a 1996 Toyota Corolla on his 17th birthday. The summer of 2002, he went to Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York. He saw the Hudson River, Statue of Liberty, World Trade Center (Ground Zero), Palisades Mall, Perkins Drive, and Yonkers Race Way, etc. 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 Forest High School on May 29, 2004, with Distinguished Achievement and as a 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 for 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. 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 in 2004, he went to University of Texas (UT) 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 Idaho and Utah. In summer 2006, he got an Associates Degree in Science from Richland College. He went to Europe in the spring of 2007, visited United Kingdom (England and Wales) and France (Paris and Versailles). He also visited Georgia, Kentucky, and Ohio. On May 2008, he met the Governor of Texas, Rick Perry. While he was at the Knanaya Convention on July 2008, he also visited Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Philadelphia and also went to Canada, where he visited Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto. On November 2008, he visited Massachusetts (Boston, Plymouth, & Worcester) and Rhode Island (Providence). He graduated from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio School of Nursing (UTHSCSA SON) on December 17, 2008 with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN). He went to Bahrain, Germany, India, and United Kingdom from December 21, 2008 to January 13, 2009. He visited Florida (Miami, Orlando, & Palm Beach) from May 7th to May 11th, 2009.
Today, he works as a registered nurse and pursuing a degree in doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in Worcester, Massachusetts. Some of his interests include analyzing, biking, cars, CIA, computer, dreaming, health related, Knanaya, languages, NMLS, photography, racing, traveling, and volunteering. He speaks English and Malayalam. He also learned Hindi, Tamil, and Spanish.