I like to think of democracy as a muscle. If you do not exercise it frequently, it will atrophy and weaken. Whether the circumstances are fighting for your basic human rights or contesting a simple parking ticket in court, every effort to flex democracy counts. It is an unspoken duty for all citizens and U.S. residents to practice it continually. 

One of the greatest forms of democracy comes from advocacy. As student pharmacists, we took an oath not only to forward our profession, but also to always keep the interests of our patients in mind. If you don’t advocate for your profession, someone else may take advantage of pharmacy for their own benefit.

Late in December, news broke that would change our pharmacy school careers for good: “FDA approves Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use in the United States.” Not only did this announcement shine a light toward the end of the tunnel, it also opened the door of opportunity for student pharmacists to dive into action. At my health-system, hospital administrators immediately looked to the pharmacy department to help with vaccine distribution, and the pharmacy department looked to its pharmacy interns.

After graduating from a 2-year program and earning my veterinary technician license, I wanted to continue my education in the hope of pursuing pharmaceutical research and working with laboratory animals. To save money on housing, I decided to be a commuter student and travel almost an hour in one direction to the nearest 4-year school offering a biology program.

During that time, I took on a part-time position working nights and weekends at a local community pharmacy—my first inside experience with pharmacy (other than picking up my own prescriptions). My experiences in this position were the driving force behind deciding to continue onto pharmacy school after receiving my bachelor’s degree.

I was elated when I applied to three programs and was accepted to each of them. Again, to save money on loans, I opted to attend the state school with high ratings and many positive reviews from graduates.

It is no understatement that the year 2020 presented us with challenges we did not fully anticipate. However, through every obstacle, we have come together to illustrate our resilience and innovative abilities. We have endured quite a few changes—from adjusting our learning strategies to meet our academic demands, to quickly realizing our emerging, valuable roles in public health so that we may serve our communities in any way we can.