Welcoming our New Pharmacy Students with Connection, Laughter and Fun!
Hard to believe it is the end of September and we have already been back into the swing of the academic year for almost 2 months! With the first week of August came the first week of classes! On August 5th, we welcomed our P2 students back to campus and they jumped right into another semester of active learning and critical thinking. We also started a full week of welcome activities for our new students! This year we have renamed Orientation Week to be called “Induction Week” since we are doing so much more than orienting - we are inducting future pharmacists and researchers into the profession!
We welcomed a new cohort of 3-Year PharmD students, as well as our second cohort ever of 5-Year PharmD students and Stand-Alone MS in Pharmaceutical Sciences students! We all remember how exciting the start of school can be, but we also know all the new information can be quite overwhelming! Once again this year, we wanted to be sure to capture the excitement everyone experiences on this first day and carry that throughout the first week (and throughout the whole term). We focused on allowing our new students to connect, engage and truly get to know their peers.
We also had a friendly competitive scavenger hunt competition where students got to explore the College of Health Professions campus and the surrounding downtown Hillsboro community. Congratulations to the “Gilliam Gang” for taking first place and winning lunch in downtown Hillsboro at Ranch Pizza! [Pictured]
On Wednesday of induction week we took the opportunity to escape to the beautiful Forest Grove campus for the day. Our new students joined our newly minted P2 peer mentor students for an outdoor team building experience, where laughter and fun was had by all while enjoying some sunshine.[Pictured] Over lunch our new students were further able to connect with P2 students along with their faculty mentors, while also learning about student support resources available to them around the University.
Throughout this week students began to build initial connections with their faculty mentors, with whom they will be checking in with at least two times per semester as part of our Personal & Professional Development course series. This course series helps support students on their journey to academic success, as well as begin to think about and explore their career goals. We were lucky to have the support of CVS Health for providing lunch for our students throughout induction week to help ensure our students felt at home as they settled into their new lives as School of Pharmacy students.
We asked some of our students to share their thoughts of this week and how it helped shape the beginning of the 24/25 Academic Year.
"I have to say that in all my years of schooling, I have never felt so welcomed and supported by faculty and staff in a school environment. With having toddlers at home, and commuting from Vancouver, WA daily, I started my first day here fearful and nervous. Now I am excited and eager knowing that the level of support I am receiving at home is also happening as a part of Pacific University."
~Vanessa Adame, P1 Student, 3-Year PharmD
"Coming into pharmacy school I knew that no matter where I went it would be challenging and overwhelming at times but not once did I expect to feel so supported. I chose Pacific for the 3-year accelerated program, but I did not expect that in just three days of starting, I would feel not only supported, but connected to faculty, instructors, my peers, and our community as a whole. I love the way the pharmacy program is structured, easing us into our new role and responsibilities slowly and allowing us time to digest not only the material, but also the university resources available, and most significantly: emphasize the importance of building bridges between ourselves as a cohort, as student pharmacists, as people, for we are the fortified bedrock in which the other can lean on in times of joy and in need. Now after a month into the program and classes are getting more challenging it is those resources, my instructors, and my peers that I lean on for study and for support. It would be a lie to say that every day is easy, but I can say with great certainty that the environment Pacific's PharmD program has created has made me the happiest I have been in a very long time. I would not want to be anywhere else."
~ Rachel Skinner, P1 Student, 3-Year PharmD
“The Pacific University School of Pharmacy was my main and only choice when applying for pharmacy school, as I worked with students from this program in my many years working as a pharmacy technician. The recent offering of a 5-year program was just what I was looking for, as I need to be able to work full time while attending school. Since the first day of class, I have been welcomed with amazing support from the faculty and staffing in the program. I am really enjoying my first semester in my P1 year. This program dedicates the time needed to become a great pharmacist and they are willing to work with students to obtain this educational goal even with a hectic life schedule.”
~ Katy Christal, P1-A Student, 5-Year PharmD
- by Brandon Nuziale, PharmD, RPh, BCACP | Assistant Dean of Student Affairs & Associate Professor | School of Pharmacy