Life After LLU

Alumni

If I had to sum up graduation weekend in one word, I would say that it was bittersweet. I enjoyed all the perks that come with graduating: family visiting from afar, the various parties and celebrations, the feeling of accomplishment that you get when your name gets called as you walk across the stage to pick up your diploma. At the same time, it was sentimental knowing that after that weekend, all my friends would be scattered in different areas, as some of us pursued residencies or job opportunities.

For my summer, the month of June was very busy. I went to four different graduation ceremonies (all on different days), went on a family trip to Portland, Oregon and spent a few days at the happiest place on earth—Disneyland. ☺

Prior to starting college, I went on a few cross-country road trips with my friends and family and we stopped at various places in the U.S. such as Zion national park, Mount Rushmore, and Yosemite National Park. Internationally, some places I have traveled to include various islands in the Philippines, Honduras, Romania and Spain. Some places on my travel-planning “bucket list” include Thailand, England, Paris and Italy.

For the rest of my summer, my plans involve a lot of studying for the boards, which are the same plans that the rest of my classmates probably have. I also started my PGY1 residency in ambulatory care pharmacy at WeCare Pharmacy, which focuses on managing and educating patients who have diabetes or hyperlipidemia. I am very excited for the residency as it involves an area of pharmacy that I am interested.

At the end of last school year I scheduled my community pharmacy rotation for my last APPE block, which worked out well because it wasn’t too intensive of a rotation. After Block 6, all the 4th year students had reconnections, a time in which we come together as a class for one last time. I loved seeing all my classmates and faculty again, and it reminded me of one of the reasons I loved going to pharmacy school at LLU—because of the wonderful people there. I genuinely miss all my amazing classmates, and I hope that they are all doing well in whatever endeavor their lives post-pharmacy school has taken them.

In my opinion, the last school year of pharmacy school is a year of a lot of self-discovery. Through rotations and the networking events that the Experiential department, you can really learn a lot about what areas of pharmacy you like or don’t like, and you learn a lot about yourself with regards to your own strengths and weaknesses. That was one of my favorite things about the last school year, the process of self-discovery.

I learned some important things while at Loma Linda:
When working with patients, it’s important to consider “wholeness” and get a cohesive look at the person as a whole.

When pharmacy school or life in general gets hard, don’t forget to take care of yourself physically and mentally.

Wherever you go in life, whatever you do, wherever life takes you, do it with 100% commitment and compassion.

Tags:

graduation, residency, travel, WeCare Pharmacy, wholeness

After Graduation

Alumni

The end of this last school year really felt a bit like a blur. It felt like I went from having all the time in the world until graduating, to suddenly having no time at all. The end of the year was fairly busy with lots of little odds and ends to finish up, taking care of getting all my paperwork sent in for boards, and trying to guiltily study for boards.

Graduation weekend felt surreal. Unlike graduating from college where there was so much overt celebration, graduation from pharmacy school seemed a little un-exuberant. It was like “Oh, we are here now?” Nothing really seemed to set in or feel different up until the very end when we marched across the stage.

I really enjoyed getting to travel and see many different parts of the USA during this year. I was able to drive all the way around the country from California to North Carolina to Idaho back down to California. It was a wonderful experience and I was able to share each leg of that journey with a different family member, which lead to many special memories.

While I enjoyed traveling, it was hard having my APPE rotation sites all over the place. Because they were so far apart I had to continuously pack and unpack and move around. I was essentially living out of my car for the year. One of the biggest challenges with moving was the fact that just as I was settling into a new location it was time to pack up and move again.

Overall I believe the diversity of experience due to visiting other places is a major benefit to upcoming pharmacists, not only for exposure to different healthcare systems but also different patient populations and cultures. In addition the opportunities for networking in the pharmacy world increase dramatically when you are able to meet people from all over the country, not just your area. It did get a little lonely during the traveling months just because as soon as I started to make friends I would have to pack and move, however the friends that I made are ones that I still keep in contact with now.

I would absolutely repeat my fourth year rotation schedule over again if had to sit down and plan out a schedule like that again. For those that have the ability to, I would encourage them to pick at least one of their rotations in a location away from the “APPE Bubble.” The rotation doesn’t have to be all the way across the country, however even spending time in a different part of California would be a benefit. I would recommend a mix maybe two to three rotations away and then three to four rotations near school; that way you have the benefit of travel and experience, but you can still stay connected with everyone and school life throughout the year.

I have traveled a lot in my life, but two of the adventures that I had during pharmacy school were two medical mission trips, one to Nicaragua and one to Peru. These were very eye opening trips, which really showed the dire need for healthcare in other parts of the world. One of the amazing things with these trips was seeing how content everyone was despite their situations. Right now I would love to either travel to Africa or Antarctica because those are the two continents I have yet to visit.

My summer, as short as it was, was filled with lots of time with friends and trying to get everything ready for residency. I was able to continue to explore and hike around So-Cal, visit with a lot of my friends and attend their weddings.

I am currently a PGY 1 resident in Salisbury, North Carolina doing a Primary Care Pharmacy Residency program. I just finished up my orientation month and am now beginning my acute care rotation. I am looking forward to getting to explore the states along the east coast this next year and making new friends!

Summer this year went by really quickly between my graduation, my brother’s graduation, my little cousin’s graduation, and moving across the country for residency. I thankfully was allowed a week off by my residency program to spend helping out at diabetes camp again. Camp has been one of the most life-changing experiences that I had in pharmacy school and I was very grateful to be able to go back this summer.

I learned some important things during my time at Loma Linda:
1 – Take advantage of the wealth of diverse opportunities that are present because you never know how they will change your life.

2 – Enjoy life. School is still a time that allows you to go out and explore and travel, so make the most of it while you can!

3 – Mentor and help those around you. You never know whom you may work with later or how you can help influence someone else’s life!

There is nothing I would change about my pharmacy school experience. I loved all the different opportunities that I had available to me, and how they were able to really help shape my future and goals.

Tags:

diabetes camp, graduation, North Carolina, rotations, Student Missions, travel