James Sceniak for Senate

About James

James grew up in a conservative family with five siblings in Northern Indiana. His large family taught him to understand the importance of a strong community. His parents instilled in him the ideals of serving his community, empathy for others, and loving your neighbors.

As a young adult, James worked full time in a nursing home while he pursued higher education. James received his associate’s degree in Human Services with honors from Ivy Tech Community College. He continued his education at Bethel College (now University) where he received his bachelor’s degree in Human Services. James pursued his education in a social service-related profession because his lifelong goal is to serve others and help improve their quality of life.

These values are the building blocks of James’ priorities to build better communities, ensure religious freedom, care for our Veterans, and allow individuals to pursue the best medical care to fit their individual needs. James believes an overreaching government interferes with the foundation of the community. When one allows freedom and liberty to flourish in America, the petty differences that have kept us from seeing our neighbors will begin to fade.  

Today, James serves children with Autism as a Behavior Therapist. He uses his education to help his clients acclimate to their daily environments by building social skills and teaching them how to manage their behavior. 

This includes helping children develop language skills, whether through a speaking device, sign language, or increasing verbal skills. James finds Behavioral Therapy to be a very fulfilling and rewarding field as he gets to share in many smiles as the children he works with reach their goals. He often states that the kids teach him more than he teaches them.

In summer 2019, James was asked to do in-home therapy with his client due to new COVID-19 protocols. As he was exploring an in-home task, the family told him they wanted to see their child no longer terrified to ride a bike. James was thrilled to begin to explore the behavior changes that needed to happen in order for his client to go from terrified to riding. In the first week, James and his client spent time in the same area as the bicycle. The next week, they began to explore the bike. In the third week, they tried getting on the bike. Each step was a milestone for this young boy. After many steps of even just learning the fine motor skills of pressing the pedals, the client began to feel his confidence rising. One summer day, the boy looked out the window and saw other children riding their bikes. He immediately went to the garage and hopped on his own bike and attempted to keep up. Like working with this boy on learning to ride a bike, James understands change is incremental and takes patience. With an incremental approach, he believes we can begin to secure more freedom and liberty in America. 

Family is everything to James. You will often hear stories of his nieces and nephews as he takes great pride in his role as an uncle. Tea parties and “Sunday Shenanigans” are a regular theme in James’ life. He takes pride in fighting for the freedoms of the next generations. His goal is to see his nieces and nephews flourish with innovation and freedom. This is why fiscal sanity is a top priority for James. He believes our nation’s debt will only hinder opportunities and the freedoms of the next generation and beyond.

As a lifelong Hoosier, James is ready to take his family values to Washington D.C. to fight for freedom and liberty. He believes in community and people. As individuals are given more liberty, their communities will thrive with innovation. Consider a fresh, modern, approach to Washington’s stale, invasive and wasteful agenda. This is how we begin to put our neighbors first and build flourishing communities.