“Are you sure you want to do this? You do not even speak English!”

This is just an example of the things I heard when my husband and I decided to go to college in the United States. I cannot say that I did not feel supported from family and friends, but I wanted to start with these quotes to show you where I was and where I stand right now in life.

My husband, Ahmed, and I left Saudi Arabia in 2011 and came to America to achieve my dream of being a pharmacist. Leaving my country and family was not easy; however, it was one of the best decisions I have made. When we first arrived at Dulles International Airport in Virginia, I said to myself, “How am I going to do this?” After a couple of deep breaths, I told myself to stop thinking about pharmacy school and start by learning the language first. Life is hard and sometimes we have no control over it. But we can control how we respond and react to whatever we face. After so many happy, sad, exciting, disappointing, and cheerful moments, I got accepted at the University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Pharmacy.

“For most people, interest without purpose is nearly impossible to sustain for a lifetime. It is therefore imperative that you identify your work as both personally interesting and, at the same time, integrally connected to the well-being of others.” — Angela Duckworth, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance

As student pharmacists, we are lucky. There are few professions in life where we get to care for our community, our family, and our friends. The act of caring for the lives of our patients is laced with purpose, given through something as small as a smile to as large as forming a lifelong pharmacist–patient relationship, and our efforts exist to improve the well-being of the society that surrounds us. Our purpose is clear and our passion for moving pharmacy forward shows in the work we do every day.

For me, not too long ago, the letters APhA–ASP were nothing more than an abnormal distribution of vowel and consonants in a bowl of alphabet soup. I will admit that in these last fleeting few years of pharmacy academia, the Academy’s significance and impact on my life has expanded tremendously. There is, however, one defining moment that culminated its impact on my life up to this point and it is a unique perspective that I have the distinct pleasure to share with you.

While many student pharmacists were immersed in the spectacle that was APhA2019 in Seattle, I tasked myself to find the true essence of APhA–ASP.