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Posts Tagged ‘College of Pharmacy’

Happy First Day of Classes for All Our Ohio State Students!

We want to wish our Ohio State College of Pharmacy students, Matthew, Colin, and Tayler a great first day of classes on August 27.

Sadly, with the start of the semester, you probably won’t be seeing our loyal and devoted students in the drugstore except on Saturdays. Matthew is starting his third year of pharmacy school. Colin is entering his second year. And Tayler, who we are very proud of, is beginning his very first day of pharmacy school at Ohio State on Wednesday!

Our fourth year student, Andy, is off doing his rotations with other pharmacies until his graduation next spring.

You might also see a new face in the pharmacy on Saturdays, as well. Jessica Palmer spent several days this past year and over the summer in the lab with Bob. Jessica is a senior at The University of Dayton. She also plans to apply to pharmacy school, so she wants to get a bit more experience in an independent drugstore. Say hello to Jessica when you see her at the cash register or behind the counter on Saturdays.

We hope all of our students will have a wonderful autumn semester and a super school year in 2014-2015. We are very proud of all of you!

For the complete list of important dates for the autumn semester at OSU, go HERE.

Fourth Year Pharmacy Students Gifty Kusi And Ayman Saleh Are Working on a Partner for Promotion Project in the Drugstore.

Last month, in July, you met fourth year pharmacy student, Gifty Kusi, who was doing a month long rotation in the drugstore. Gifty, who is originally from Ghana, will be graduating from The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy next June. Gifty told us that her unusual, but very charming name means, “Gift from God.” What a lovely name and how nice to know that her parents felt she was a wonderful gift to them.

This month, we have Ayman Saleh, another fourth year pharmacy student, working with us. Ayman came to the United States from Lebanon when he was 18 and has lived in California until moving to Ohio for pharmacy school.

Ayman is a compounding guru and has been giving me a much welcomed break in the lab the past few weeks. Ayman also clearly has the personality to be a pharmacy owner (something he hopes to become someday), as he has taken part in our craziness in the store, even wearing John Allen’s Hee Haw hat. Beyond that, though, Ayman loves to help our customers and devotes a great amount of time and attention to patient interactions.

Both Gifty and Ayman will be with us for several other weeks in the coming year as they are working together on a Partner for Promotion project in the pharmacy that focuses on compounding.

Plain City Druggist has been involved in the Partner for Promotion program over the past few years. Joe acts as a preceptor (a pharmacy mentor) for the students who work on advanced patient care service projects during their final year of pharmacy school. The students, like Gifty and Ayman, who choose to participate in this program are real go-getters, as they don’t receive any extra credit for doing this.  They do, however, learn a lot for their futures as pharmacists.  They also have to be able to manage their time well. The projects usually establish programs in pharmacies that can continue to work after the students are no longer there. These programs include diabetes clinics, OTC counseling programs, cholesterol monitoring, and other important health services that patients need. 

Our former pharmacy student, Kelly Hawk, who is now practicing in St. Louis, Missouri, did a Partner for Promotion project on smoking cessation at Schieber Family Pharmacy in Circleville. 

As I mentioned, the students who participate in the Partner for Promotion program are really motivated to be the best pharmacists they can be. Both Gifty and Ayman hope to have their own independent drugstores some day. 

For this reason, Gifty, Ayman, and third year pharmacy student, Jon McClymont, decided to attend the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) Pharmacy Ownership Workshop offered from August 19-21 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Jon also hopes to return to his home in Nebraska after graduation and open his own pharmacy. 

Joe and I attended the Pharmacy Ownership Workshop way back in 1997 when it was held in Memphis. Joe was still working at Wal-mart at that time and I was in pharmacy school. Joe was trying to make up his mind about opening a pharmacy and this workshop gave him the confidence to start Plain City Druggist just two years later in 1999. 

We hope the NCPA workshop teaches our students many, many things as they journey to becoming pharmacists. We also hope that their time here with us at Plain City Druggist will also make them ready to be independent pharmacy owners.

Congratulations to Kelly Hawk Who is Graduating from Pharmacy School on June 11!

Our pharmacy student, Kelly Hawk, will be graduating from The Ohio State University’s College of Pharmacy this Saturday, June 11, in a special hooding ceremony. While Joe and I both received a five year, Bachelor of Science degree in Pharmacy, Kelly’s program involved getting an undergraduate Bachelor degree and then going on to get another four year pharmacy professional degree. Kelly will graduate with a PharmD, which is the equivalent of a PhD. After Saturday, you can call her Dr. Kelly Hawk.

We are so proud of Kelly.

Kelly came to work for us in May 2005. She had graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in computer science and couldn’t find a job. So she decided to find out more about pharmacy, take pre-requisite classes for pharmacy school, and then go on to become a pharmacist.

When Kelly first started at the drugstore, she was our clerk and delivery driver. She rang the register, got lost trying to deliver medications, and did just about anything she had to do to learn what pharmacy was all about. From clerk and delivery driver, she progressed to pharmacy technician and took the exam to be a licensed tech. Licensing for technicians wasn’t required at that time (it now is), but Kelly went above and beyond to show she was dedicated to the profession. All the time she was working, Kelly was also taking chemistry courses and other classes she needed before applying to pharmacy school.

In 2007, Kelly’s hard work paid off and she was admitted to The Ohio State University’s College of Pharmacy. For the past four years, Kelly has been going to school full time and working for us on Saturdays and during her breaks. All that “blood, sweat, and tears” is finally coming to an end and she will be a graduate this weekend and will take her pharmacy licensing exam in the coming weeks to make her a registered pharmacist (RPh).

Please stop in the pharmacy this week (Kelly will be here Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday) and tell Kelly congratulations.

Besides Kelly, three of our other pharmacy students will also be graduating on Saturday: Matt Byrdy, Anna Gehres, and Jimmy Byun. You have met all of them during their rotations through the drugstore. We wish them all much luck as they go forward as pharmacists.

Matt and Kelly are also honoring Joe by having him place their hoods on them in the hooding ceremony on Saturday. This is a very distinguished honor to ask Joe to lead them forward into the profession of pharmacy. Joe has been a mentor to Kelly and Matt (as well as our other students) and he is so excited to be doing this for them (although he may need a step stool to place Matt’s hood on him, since he towers over Joe). Don’t worry, we’ll have plenty of photos from this celebration on Saturday!

We also want to congratulate all of the area graduates, including our own Michaela Henderson, who is leaving St. John’s Lutheran School behind as she graduates from the eighth grade. Since St. John’s only has a program for students from kindergarten to eighth grade, Michaela will be attending Fairbanks next year as she begins high school. Michaela was selected as the salutatorian of her class and made a speech this past week. We know that this is only the beginning of lots of great things academically and on the basketball court for this beautiful, young lady. Perhaps, there is another pharmacy student tagging along on Kelly’s heels?

Our Former Students Are Now Doctors of Pharmacy! We Are Very Proud!

Lindsey Steichen Rice with her mom.

Yesterday, June 12, Joe and I attended the “Doctoral Convocation Hooding and Awards Ceremony” for The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy with Kelly Hawk Jackson, our current pharmacy student. Kelly will participate in this ceremony next year as a 2011 graduate, so she got a taste of what she can expect.

Three of our former pharmacy students were being “hooded’ and receiving their doctor of pharmacy degree after many, many long years of hard work. These faces will look very familiar to you, as you’ve seen all of them in the drugstore.

The first student is Lindsey Steichen Rice, who started working for us in the pharmacy shortly after she began her studies in pharmacy school. Lindsey has lots of family in Plain City, so the pharmacy allowed her to see many of them on a regular basis. Lindsey not only graduated Cum Laude (with honors), she also recently got married and moved to Washington D. C. Lindsey is going to be working in a Walgreens in the D. C. area. We wish her much luck and hope she stops in to see us when she is home visiting family.

Dr. Sarah McGinnis with Kelly.

Kelly and Sarah worked a lot of Saturdays together while they were both in pharmacy school. Because Kelly is one year behind Sarah, Sarah very kindly loaned Kelly old study materials to help her with her classes. Sarah McGinnis worked for us throughout pharmacy school until she and her husband moved to the Dayton area her fourth year, while she did her experiential rotations. Sarah graduated with highest honors, Summa Cum Laude, and was the recipient of the Merck Award. Sarah will be working in a Rite Aid in Dayton.

Are you seeing the pattern here? All of our students are the brightest, winning awards and graduating with honors.

The same can be said for our final student, Dr. Andrew Hall.

Joe and Doc Andy.

Andy also graduated Cum Laude. Additionally, Andy won the prestigious Stephen W. Birdwell Student Award. This award is in honor of a professor from the College of Pharmacy who died several years ago. Joe actually had Dr. Birdwell in school, but he was already ill by the time I arrived for classes. Dr. Birdwell was well loved and respected by the students. And this is what this award honors–a student whose peers select them as being respected and loved, someone who will be a wonderful pharmacist due to, not only their knowledge, but their ability to interact with people and make them feel good about themselves. That is definitely Doc Andy.

Andy receiving the Stephen W. Birdwell Student Award.

Since the doctor of pharmacy program did not start until Joe and I had already graduated with Bachelor degrees in Pharmacy, the hooding ceremony was all new to us. It is a very formal and lovely ceremony (if a bit long). It is also something that we know these graduates will not soon forget. Just as we will not soon forget them.

Congratulations Lindsey, Sarah, and Andy!

Congratulations to All the 2010 Graduates!

We want to wish all the 2010 graduates throughout Union and Madison Counties a future filled with happiness and success.

We also have two college graduates who we must extend congratulations to. It has been a long road for both of them, but we know that road is only leading to good things.

Our first graduate is Andy Hall, who was our fourth year student from The OSU College of Pharmacy last year. Andy has kept in touch with us and remains a good friend. Andy will be working in southern Ohio/KY after his graduation with his PharmD degree from The Ohio State University this Sunday, June 13. We know Andy is going to be a wonderful pharmacist. He hopes one day to own an independent pharmacy similar to Plain City Druggist. Congratulations, Andy!

Congratulations to Andy Hall, shown here enjoying The Circus Sideshow at our 10-year-anniversary party, and doing the Twist with Margie.

 

Our second graduate is Nikolay (Nik) Soloha, who has worked in the pharmacy since 2005 and is a graduate of Jonathan Alder and a Plain City resident. Nik had planned to go to pharmacy school at Ohio State right after high school, but some unforeseen circumstances led him off his intended path. He is graduating this Sunday, June 13, from OSU with his BSPS (Bachelor of Science in Pharmaceutical Sciences) degree. Getting a BSPS is usually a good stepping stone toward pharmacy school, which is where we still hope Nik is going to end up.

Nik working behind the counter in the old pharmacy. We hope his degree from OSU will lead him to be a pharmacist so he can continue behind the counter (and maybe even with Plain City Druggist).

 

Nik working with Joe and Margie at the old store.