Alleah Al-Amery is a final-year PharmD candidate at Lipscomb University College of Pharmacy and chair of the 2023–2024 APhA–Awards Standing Committee.
The academic challenges the COVID-19 pandemic brought to colleges and schools of pharmacy across the country is often discussed. What is talked about less often is how student organizations suffered for the same reasons.
I entered pharmacy school at Lipscomb University College of Pharmacy in the fall of 2020. That same semester, I ran for the P1 liaison position for our APhA–ASP Chapter not really knowing what APhA–ASP was, much less what a healthy, thriving local chapter was capable of. As I progressed to other leadership positions such as president-elect, patient care vice president, and finally president, I struggled to know how best to lead the chapter.
My team and I relied heavily on our chapter advisors and the student leaders who came before us. They provided a unique perspective that we didn't have, such as what APhA–ASP was like at Lipscomb before the pandemic.
Once we had an objective to work toward, we needed a game plan. How could we showcase all the benefits of membership when we had never experienced the gamut of APhA–ASP ourselves?
Fostering community
Someone once told me that people follow people, not organizations. Keeping that in mind, we set out to create buy-in by forming meaningful relationships with prospective and current members. By taking time to get to know our peers, we fostered community within the college and bolstered our chapter’s membership simultaneously.
Little by little, as more events were held in-person, the relationships the executive committee and I built bloomed into a community—a community that has worked hard to serve the middle Tennessee area, advocate for the profession of pharmacy, and have some fun along the way.
Chapters with similar issues
Not only did I witness this problem of connection at a local level—I’ve also seen how this challenge has affected chapters at a national level. This year, I’ve had the pleasure of serving as chair of the 2023–2024 APhA–Awards Standing Committee. Part of our committee’s responsibilities is reading the Chapter Achievement Reports from all the chapters. As I’ve read, I’ve learned about the successes and challenges chapters have faced and worked to overcome.
My time spent on the Awards Standing Committee has shown me that our APhA–ASP Chapters are not all that different. The challenges my local chapter are facing are the same challenges chapters across the country are facing and working hard to overcome. I had the privilege of reading about their hard work, resiliency, and creativity as they breathed new life into their chapters. I’ve been blown away by their perseverance. I can't wait to celebrate those accomplishments at the APhA Annual Meeting & Exposition this coming March!
To get back to a place where our APhA–ASP Chapters are thriving and move APhA–ASP forward, it will take all of us working together and investing in others.