Pharmaceutical Dreams BY NICHOLAS ALBANO, PRE-PHARMACY I had always assumed I’d get a job in the automobile industry just like my dad and his dad before him. Even as a high school student, college was a mystery to me. Maybe it was because I didn’t have any family members who had gone to college. No one even talked to me about college until I met Syppy at the pharmacy. Among other things, she opened my eyes to the world of higher education; she taught me what it was to be a professional. The notion of me going to school after high school was laughed at or quietly frowned upon by my family; they were concerned with the length of time it would take and the cost to them. My mother secretly encouraged me, so with her support and the support of Syppy from my first pharmacy job, I enrolled in college science courses. I worked in the pharmacy full-time for three years, and my interest grew. I was interested in all aspects of the profession, from the science of the chemicals we worked with to the stories of the patients we helped each day. I was invited into the homes of some of our patients when I delivered medications. I can’t explain it, but I felt an overwhelming sense of duty to serve them. I guess I always knew that this could be my grandmother, my grandfather, my mother, my sister. It became even more real to
STUDENT FEATURES P4 Student Engagement
me when we would share in the joy of a patient bringing us the news of their cancer remission, and also when we shared in the sorrows of families that notified us of the death of a family member that had been our patient. When I came to The University of Toledo, the organic chemistry classes and my first anatomy and pathophysiology class really opened my eyes to the sciences, how things worked, what could go wrong, and how we can fix it. Learning about diseases also instilled a passion within me to fight them. I’ve been working within the profession for nearly eight years. I have faced much adversity, pain and suffering in my journey–but I have not wavered, I have not fallen and I certainly have not cracked. I am held together by the hopes and dreams that form my burning desire to join the ranks of pharmacists across the nation. I feel that some of my traits are hallmark signs of a good pharmacist: honesty, dignity, honor, justice, fairness, compassion and integrity. I have a desire to share my knowledge, to educate patients, and to keep myself informed. I also realize that not everyone has the opportunity to become a pharmacist, and that it is a highly competitive academic field. I know I can and will repay this gift to my community through my service to them as a pharmacist.
Ohio Pharmacists Association externs Kevin Mast (left) and Elaine Boateng, 2011 PharmD Candidate from The University of Toledo (right), led a presentation on poison prevention to a class of first graders at St. Paul School in Westerville, Ohio.
P4 student, Tan Carlin (right), was recognized with the Alpha Zeta Omega Pharmaceutical Fraternity’s 2011 Jay L. Pollock Undergraduate Achievement Award.