James Houser, an intensive care unit nurse at NEA Baptist Hospital, earned the Pi Kappa Alpha Educational Foundation’s 2014 Reverend Simon A. Simon Memorial Scholarship. James is enrolled at Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary in Memphis, and serves as an advisor to Pi Kappa Alpha’s Delta Theta Chapter at Arkansas State University.
“Pi Kappa Alpha has shown me that despite the modern society, which promotes temptation and sin, that there are men in the most successful positions who remain both in good character and good hearted,” James said.
Serving as an intensive care nurse has offered James a unique experience to witness life and death first-hand and has inspired him to serve God through his work.
“I get to see how people respond to such adversity (end of life) with and without God,” James said. “I began to reflect upon my own life, and I knew at that point, I was to be a servant of Christ. As I gain ground on interpreting and expressing God’s written word, I believe God will use me to reach the hearts of patients and people I encounter during these adverse times.”
A winner of the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses, James is applying for the University of Alabama Birmingham’s Master of Science in Health Administration/Master of Business Administration program, where he hopes to start next fall.
Since 2002, the Simon A. Simon Memorial Scholarship has been awarded to an undergraduate or graduate student of Pi Kappa Alpha who is pursuing a degree in theology. The scholarship memorializes former International Chaplain Simon A. Simon.