Leeann Williamson is a third-year PharmD candidate at the Shenandoah University School of Pharmacy.
Due to the pandemic, my first live Region 2 APhA–ASP Midyear Regional Meeting (MRM) as a student pharmacist was this year during the weekend of October 21–23 in Alexandria, VA. The keynote speaker for Friday night was Rafael Saenz, PharmD, APhA’s chief of staff, who used the term “yes–first” in his speech. Dr. Saenz spoke about the importance of saying “yes” in situations that may seem overwhelming or uncomfortable, but how imperative it is to be able to grow as a student, professional, and individual. This resonated with me throughout the weekend, especially since there were a lot of reasons that could have kept me from coming to MRM.
We are so busy as student pharmacists, and there are always assignments to do and exams to study for. By putting that aside and going into the weekend with the yes–first mentality, I ended up having an amazing weekend and falling even more in love with everything that APhA–ASP has to offer. All it took was one yes, and now my life has been so positively impacted!
We are lifelong learners
Over the weekend, attendees heard presentations surrounding vaccine hesitancy and poison control center information as well as information regarding the HPV vaccine. All of these presentations helped to remind me that, as future pharmacists, we are lifelong learners and have so much to be excited about with the opportunities in our profession and advancements being made.
Beyond the educational experiences, I got to meet so many amazing student pharmacists and pharmacists and hear about the astounding events that their chapters are hosting. I also had the wonderful opportunity to attend the APhA Annual Meeting & Exposition in March this year, as well as the APhA–ASP Summer Leadership Institute in July, so it was wonderful to be able to see familiar faces and catch up! It is truly inspiring to be around so many people who are so excited about APhA–ASP, and I look forward to seeing many of them in Phoenix at APhA2023!
The excitement was contagious
With all of these experiences and networking, my favorite part of the weekend was seeing how excited student pharmacists were about APhA. I had the opportunity to meet quite a few first-year student pharmacists who were more courageous than I ever could have been going to my first conference. Looking at how far I have developed as a student since my first APhA meeting makes me so excited to see the profession in a few years, when these same students will enter the field of pharmacy.
I continue to feel so blessed to be a part of such an amazing profession, and as our APhA–ASP Chapter president, I’m honored to serve as a leader in such an impactful association.