Our first-year pharmacy students in the Introduction to Pharmaceutical Care Skills class take advantage of an exciting opportunity to learn through service.
These students break in to groups and choose community organizations to learn about and to visit.
With 104 students in 19 groups – that’s a big community impact!
Under the direction of Beth Mills, PharmD and Katie Trotta, PharmD, the groups schedule an in-person visit to the agencies.
“The visits include tours of the facilities and time to talk with the organizations’ leaders and volunteers to learn about the mission and work of the organization, including any pharmacy specific and medically-related needs,” said Mills. “The groups learn so much and are energized to take if forward and implement a service in the community the next semester based on what they experience on the visit.”
After the visits, the groups complete projects to highlight the agencies and share their findings at the P1 Service Learning Fair. All CPHS faculty, staff and students are invited to the fair to learn about the agencies and view the students’ work.
“It was fun to ask the groups about their work and to see their project displays at the fair,” said Meredith Blalock, director of Communications & Marketing for CPHS. “I learned things about our community and was surprised at some of the findings.”
This semester the class is working on hands-on service projects related to their findings from their visits and projects. Looking forward to seeing the outcomes in a few weeks!