When I was a child, my best friends wanted to be superheroes when they grew up. I wanted to be a superhero, too. But the superhero I wanted to be didn’t wear a cape nor have an alter ego, although he did often wear a mask. I wanted to be just like my dad.

You see, my dad is a surgeon, and ever since I was little, I knew that he was doing the one thing that all superheroes do: he helped people. I knew I would never be able to fly or clear buildings with a single bound, but, if I were like my dad, I could help others.

In the practice of pharmacy, you truly never know what to expect on a daily basis. There are always obstacles that challenge your mental and emotional capabilities. Pharmacists and student pharmacists continually face adversity in their practice setting, whether it be inpatient or outpatient, and yet always manage to find their way through for the sake of the patient. At times, the focus may be spent so much on drug therapy problems and insurance issues that the patients’ personal adversity is not recognized. Some patients have gone through numerous hardships in their lives while others may come from difficult backgrounds that have affected their views on medication experience.

The 2016–17 APhA–ASP theme “Together We Can” was enthusiastically embraced by the University of Missouri–Kansas City (UMKC) School of Pharmacy's APhA–ASP Chapter, as student pharmacists worked together to become leaders in advocacy for the profession and patients within the community. Our chapter set out to share its voice and reach our statewide goals. Overall, we held 366 events, educated and provided services to 19,938 patients in 80 out of the 114 Missouri counties, and reached nearly 2.5 million patients through public relation efforts.

It was amazing to be recognized for our efforts at APhA2018 in Nashville when our chapter received the 2016–17 APhA–ASP Chapter of the Year Award.