Kara Felde

Class of 2007
Versailles, Indiana

Kara Felde is a nursing student at Valpo who attends St. Paul Lutheran Church in Olean, Ind. Periodic challenges with her own health, combined with what she’s seen in nursing settings in recent years, have taught her that without faith in Christ, life can be pretty lonely, uncertain and discouraging. Even more, for some who face challenging health issues without faith, life is just a continuous string of questions with no real answers.

This conclusion was amplified in summer of 2005 when she served on the nursing staff of Camp Riley in Martinsville, Ind., a facility specially designed for children with physical disabilities such as cerebral palsy and spina bifida.

While very excited by the prospect of working with children with special needs, Felde initially was jolted by the secular environment of the camp. In her words, “At first I questioned whether or not I could find a way to fit in. Because it was not a Christian community, I found it a challenge to know how we could support each other. I am used to living in a community that is centered around the cross.”

Still, there were lots of children to get to know and numerous nursing skills to learn and perform. Quickly the children of the camp won her heart as she interacted with them while “doing her rounds.” No question, Felde was in a real-life situation. As she admits, “I was saddened by the campers’ life situations and their suffering. I began to question why they had to be that way. It was my faith that enabled me to look past their seemingly limited life situation to God’s unconditional love for each of His children. This realization gave me a depth of compassion and purpose that only Christ can give.”

One thing that was particularly helpful to Felde upon returning to Valparaiso University was a course she took on bioethics with Professor Gilbert Meilaender. “He did a wonderful job of encouraging me to dig deeper into my faith with what I learned from his class and connect it to the experiences of the summer. Thus, I was able to look at the limitations and complexities of the campers’ lives and still see God’s hand in their lives.”

Felde’s Camp Riley work experience helped confirm her desire to be a pediatric nurse. Some day she may even pursue a Ph.D. so she can, as she says, “teach at a university where I can help students connect their faith with their lives and careers in nursing.”

For now she knows that whether working with physically limited children and their families or interacting with coworkers, her faith provides a way to understand and deal with life’s vagaries that is much more than a string of questions with no real answers.

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