Greetings!
It’s June here at The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy, and we’re already getting excited to start everything off with our newest incoming class, the class of 2019! This past weekend, we held our very first Welcome Day at the college, and I had the pleasure to greet our new student pharmacists.
On Saturday we had a whole host of activities to introduce students to the college and to welcome them as fellow student pharmacists. Our morning began with a casual breakfast so that everyone could chat and get to know their classmates. In one of the lecture rooms at Parks Hall, Dr. McAuley presented in an interactive format. One of my personal favorite parts was when he polled the class on why they chose Ohio State and compared it to the top five reasons he had found.
After Dr. McAuley spoke, there was a sample class lecture by Dr. Sullivan. He gave an overview of different OTC (over-the-counter) treatments. Especially in the community setting, the pharmacist is often the first person that a patient contacts with a health problem, and Dr. Sullivan taught this new class of student pharmacists how to field those questions and help patients with a wide range of problems from nasal allergies to sunburns.
The Class of 2019 also had a unique opportunity to get a photo at the Browning Amphitheater, near Mirror Lake. Every year, the graduating pharmacy class gets a picture together at the amphitheater, and this lucky group of students will have a picture when they begin pharmacy school AND when they graduate from pharmacy school.
We walked past the lake and up to the top floor of Thompson Library—I totally recommend stopping there because it is just such a gorgeous view of campus! After everyone had sat down with their lunch, we got to hear from Drs. Haas-Gehres and Prusa. Both pharmacists, as fairly recent graduates, spoke about their time in pharmacy school, post-graduate experiences, and how they got to their current positions. These women each have their own path to where they are now, and I loved hearing about their experiences and their advice for the future.
The rest of the afternoon was just as exciting as the morning was. Groups split up to tour the medical campus and the James Cancer Hospital, get to know each other in some team-building exercises, and ask anything in the FAQ session. Writing this, it’s hard to believe that we did so much!
Some students thirsty for more set out on a campus tour after everything had wrapped up. Anyone unfamiliar with fickle Ohio weather got first-hand experience when we got caught in downpour. While we hid from the rain, we got to talk about some of the other highlights of Ohio State’s campus and things that students get to take advantage of at this university.
I had such a great time at the college’s first Welcome Day, and I know we’ll have another exciting start to the school year this fall. I’m looking forward to interacting more with another awesome class here at the College of Pharmacy.
Be sure to check back in so that you can hear from our new student coordinators! Joyce Zhang actually took all the photos you see in this post. I’ve got three great fellow students I get to work with this year, so definitely look forward to their introductions and the blogs they’ve got in store!
Take care! And email us at cop-ambassadors@osu.edu!
