It was a cold fall morning. My middle school professor was distributing exams as I heard the loudest sound of a bomb blast. All windows got shattered and room got filled with smoke. It was total darkness in the room and everyone was screaming. I could smell the fumes. I choked on the air filled with debris and I ran outside the classroom to breathe fresh air and possibly get some help. As I went outside, I noticed my hands bleeding, cut from a glass shard. I yelled for help as I saw other students running towards the main gate. Police cars and ambulances arrived after couple of minutes. EMT’s cleaned and bandaged my wound quickly. They took me with the other students to the nearest hospital in an ambulance. I was admitted for a general checkup in the ER. While waiting there, a nurse came in to check the bleeding. She told me that I would need stiches on one of the cuts on my hand. So she gave me local anesthesia injection and within few seconds, I couldn’t feel any pain. I was surprised how the drug worked so quickly. The doctor came in; he took the glass shard out and sutured my hand. That day my fascination and curiosity took over me and I decided that I want to learn more in depth about the medicine.
Few years after the incident, our family moved to the United States. As an immigrant, I had to overcome few barriers in order to continue my journey to be a Pharmacist. Some of the challenges I encountered included learning and becoming affluent in English, acculturation and lack of financial resources. It was as hard to learn English for me as it is for anyone to learn a new language. I only had some basic knowledge to begin with. I read hundreds of books and magazines to become affluent in it. I also made friends at college to become affluent and confident in communication. After a year of hard work, my efforts paid off very well. I took couple of online tests to check my expertise. I passed them with flying colors. That success also took care of acculturation and lack of confidence. I was so motivated and wanted to do more so I decided to join the disability services at campus in order to help disabled students with their homework assignments and exams. The sense of accomplishment I felt from serving others was the motivation that made me join the Pharmacy school and serve nationwide professionally.
During my undergrad years, I’ve always enjoyed learning biology and chemistry, which made me realize that I can combine both of these subjects’ in the pharmacy career. Pharmacists play a big role in medical field. Not only they are involved in developing new medicines and vaccines for all kind of illnesses, but also they are actively involved with the patients and the community. They not only have to further give instructions to patients on how to take the medicines but also sometimes have to know the patient’s personal medical history. This can be challenging because one wrong instruction or one wrong pill can lead to so many complications for the patient. My interest in biology and chemistry further sparked a passion within me to become a Pharmacist. To get first hand field experience, I decided to volunteer in Peru in my junior year of undergrad.
I gained a lot of experience working as a volunteer in Peru. I joined a large team of local physician and pharmacists already working in the area. We worked on multiple projects such as building houses, building water wells, providing free medical care as well as medicines, and building pathways/stairs on mountainsides to ease the flow of traffic between villages. Before our arrival, the roofs of the houses were so damaged; they had no access to doctors or medicines, and had little to no access to water. Our coordinated and effective teamwork really changed the face of that part of the region. This was a life changing experience for the locals as well as for me. It really motivated me to pursue my career in Pharmacy. Throughout my volunteer I learned that Pharmacists play a major role in a community. They …. What else Can I PUT HERE?
My experiences inside and outside healthcare settings have prepared me very well to deal with the rigors of Pharmacy school. These experiences have sparked a passion inside me to become a pharmacist and make a difference in others’ lives. The admission into the pharmacy school will provide me with the knowledge, awareness and first hand experience of working in the community. I hope the kids in Peru know that I was touched by their gratitude for giving them basic health care medicines, rebuilding their homes, staircases, and how that trip was partly responsible for me in devoting my career to help others feel comfortable and safe.
