Life started for me a lot further from where I am now. Growing up in Wyoming was much different than in South Carolina. The snow storms leaving drifts up past your knees did not keep us from going to school but instead has us out at recess in temperatures below zero and snow in May. In 2019 I decided to leave my home state and move down south for a change of scenery. After years of trying to find my place in the world and what I wanted to do by working construction and retail, I decided to look into going back to college 5 years after dropping out. Making the choice to go back to school was a big decision and one that I don’t regret even slightly. Going from being a veterinary major and then a teaching major, I choose to major in Pre-Pharmacy when I chose to attend the University of South Carolina in Lancaster. I knew I wanted to give back and help people the way I was helped growing up as a sickly child. With my pathway in Professional and Civic Engagement my views have only strengthened and my experiences have led me to a career path of working in either a hospital or a laboratory after I complete my Pharm-D program.
Working as a Pharmacy Sales Associate for Walmart since the Summer 2023 semester, I was able to get a look into the world of Pharmacy on the retail side. Having training as a Pharmacy Technician allowed me to move along and get into the world of medicine I have grown to love. Getting a leg up with learning about different medications, what they do, and interactions is vital information for me going into the pharmacy program. This experience also showed me a side of pharmacy that I have realized is not for me. While my push for being a pharmacist and helping people hasn’t changed, I have learned that the personal face-to-face is just not for me. While working at Walmart, I also became the Microbiology Lab Assistant in Spring 2024. This was the biggest eye-opener for my love of lab work. Working alongside Dr. Annette Golonka has taught me skills that I will keep with me throughout my career as a pharmacist. Not only did I learn skills in the lab, but I gained knowledge on how to catalog a spreadsheet in excel as well as coming to the conclusion that I wanted to work in a lab. With discovering my love of lab work and that there are more options than just retail, I cannot wait to see where I go from here.
There are a few different courses throughout my college career that have helped me become the person I am now and have influenced me greatly. When I was first in college, Biology was my favorite class and what pushed me to wanting to be a science major. This did not change when I came back to college and too BIOL101 with Dr. Golonka I fell even more in love with science, learned key concepts that will further assist me in the future, and pushed me to become the lab assistant. Even as a science major, there were classes that were not science related that supported my ideas and insights I had begun to form. In the CRJU 101 Criminal Justice course I was introduced heavily to the concept of structure and order when going over the criminal justice system. Having another perspective outside of the science community I had surrounded myself in was eye-opening and really drove home the importance of structure.
For my portfolio, my main focus is directed towards getting things done properly and following a form of structure or organization. For my insight, The First Time is the Only Time, I discuss the importance of getting things done right the first time. Going into the Pharmaceutical field, I will need to complete my tasks correctly the first time around otherwise I could put my patients at risk. My other insight can go hand in hand with The Power in Structure. Without structure there is mayhem, especially in a Pharmacy where the organization of medications is imperative and guidelines for narcotics must be followed. With these insights, I developed my leadership plan of The Importance of Staying Protected from HPV. In this plan, I recognized an issue with college students not being properly protected against HPV by receiving their vaccines. I developed a program to implement at the University of South Carolina-Lancaster that would get information and resources out to students so they are aware of the risks of HPV and the importance of being vaccinated. Going back to college, learning that working efficiently and having some form of structure with the want to help others and ensure quality care in patients as a pharmacist is the best lesson I could have learned.