“The community-based organizations in that area recognize the power of peer counseling,” Esker reflected. “A whole generation of children and adolescents have lost parents to HIV, so there’s this natural wall between teens and adults. Adolescents can reach other adolescents in ways no one else can.”
All of this would be enough for most people, but not Esker. Along with his father, he is the co-founder of Esker MultiMedia, a video production company focusing on training solutions for academic institutions. He spent nearly six years as a registered pharmacist at Walgreens to stay close to the patient.
Esker also plies his mentoring skills with ACPHS students, part of his role as a member of the ACPHS Alumni Council Volunteer Board. The board seeks to re-engage alumni “at a level that makes them feel like they’re getting something and giving back,” Esker explained.
Perhaps it’s no surprise that, when asked about lessons learned at ACPHS, he talks about involvement. “You have these tremendous resources at the college: caring professors, advisors, and organizations like student government, Phi Delta Chi and APhA,” he said. “Getting involved while being a student prepared me for life.”
“You may get the drug to market, but the research is not done then.” And when he says “mentoring,” he means something different from the traditional model. “Mentoring is often seen as onedirectional,” Esker said, “but it should flow in both directions. Students have so much to teach us—for instance, the better use of technology, novel approaches to communicating in a more agile way.”
FALL/WINTER 2016