As a student pharmacist, I was hopelessly indistinguishable from the rest. I remained in the shadows of my peers who received better grades, who held more prestigious internships, and who connected better with faculty. I knew I would end up in community pharmacy, but that was okay, I liked the fast pace and patient interactions. By the time I was even a month into my APPE rotations, I was already familiar with the question: “So what are your plans for next year?”

As my peers started making Excel sheets to compare their top residency choices, I started looking for jobs. Residency was always in the back of my mind, but I wondered, “Who would want me?” I thought I was most certainly not competitive enough and was just one of thousands of other student pharmacists applying.

If you approached me in August 2014 during my first days of college at Drake University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences and told me that I would be where I am today, I would have thought you had me mistaken for a different student. Yet here I am, having completed the last of my didactic coursework and headed for rotations as a highly involved student, both inside and outside of the classroom, who has learned balance is the key to success.

Current student pharmacists and pharmacists alike are aware of daily challenges the profession faces. At Harding University College of Pharmacy, we have a unique opportunity to get involved in advocacy at the state level. This past year, the four of us took the reins in our Political Advocacy course and did exactly what Arkansas State Sen. Ron Caldwell once encouraged us to do: “Advocate for yourself ‘cause no one else will.”