JACOB HAVRON SENIOR, UNIVERSITY OF JAMESTOWN

MAJOR: NURSING

Jacob Havron had heard stories about university athletes having to drop their sports or sit out a year to focus on school. That made him nervous, but he decided he’d juggle nursing school and basketball anyway. “I took it as a challenge,” he says. “I wanted to be the person who could do it.”

Havron graduates from the University of Jamestown in Jamestown, North Dakota, this year with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. He played varsity basketball all four of his years on campus. He says balancing a sport with the demanding schedule of a nursing program meant long days, organization and sacrifice.

In School

Havron grew up in Hawaii, but when he was a high school senior pursuing a basketball scholarship, he happened to attend a basketball showcase camp in Minnesota, where he was connected with UJ’s athletics program. After some research into the school, Havron realized it had a great program for nursing, a field he was eager to learn. It was a win-win, he says.

UJ’s nursing program exposed him to different areas of the field. Clinicals alone place students in nursing homes, the North Dakota State Hospital and the operating and obstetrics sectors of Jamestown Regional Medical Center.

“I got to experience it all,” Havron says. “It helped me see where I would want to be in nursing. Nursing has such a wide variety of choices.” His choice is trauma and critical care in an intensive care unit or emergency room. The quick pace and immediate patient care “called his name,” he says.

After graduation, he’ll move back to Hawaii and take his national nursing exam to be a registered nurse. He’s keeping his options open for more schooling down the road, perhaps in sports medicine or physical therapy. “That’s the great thing about nursing,” he says. “It’s a door that leads to more doors. There are so many areas and opportunities.”

For Basketball

Being an athlete and nursing student meant long days that started early with class, followed by practice and then clinicals at night, Havron says. Or eight-hour days in clinicals with no break before practice. “Your feet are hurting, you have no energy, but you still have to go out there and play your best.”

His teachers and administrators helped schedule his coursework and requirements around his basketball schedule as best they could so he could succeed in both. “They were really helpful and understanding,” he says. His clinicals were scheduled in Jamestown instead of other cities so he could continue to play basketball. “It’s hectic, but it works,” he laughs.

He also attends a campus church service each week. “You have to keep your mind calm and your faith in check,” he says. When he returns home to Maui each summer, he serves as a youth leader at his local church, and keeps any potential free hours in Jamestown occupied with community service projects through the Jimmies athletics department.

Despite the fact that balancing nursing school with basketball required substantial organization and sacrifice, he says he wouldn’t do anything differently. “I would definitely go through it all again,” he says. “If I could experience it again, I would.” PB

Lisa Gibson EDITOR, PRAIRIE BUSINESS 701.787.6753

LGIBSON@PRAIRIEBUSINESSMAGAZINE.COM