Community Service is Fun!

Here at PCSP, we are required to do pharmacy and non-pharmacy related community service every year. At first I was scared that I wouldn’t have time to get all of my hours completed since we have to have five pharmacy-related hours and one non-pharmacy hour each year. I quickly found out that it’s not only easy to get all of your hours but it’s also tons of fun.

This year, my non-pharmacy related community service was done for Happy Wheels charity. This charity donates toys to sick children in hospitals around the country. And no, I did not donate money or toys or even time with children for this community service. I paid a small fee to run in a 5K in Columbia. I was not excited about the running part since that’s not really my thing, but I was excited that during the entire race you get pelted with colors! It was so much fun running and getting messy with my friends for such an amazing cause. Plus, I was really surprised that I finished the whole race in less than an hour. It really showed me that community service can be fulfilling, exciting, and showed me a lot about myself that I didn’t know before.

A few of my pharmacy related opportunities this year were through an organization that I joined called National Community Pharmacists Association or NCPA. I helped to run an information booth at the Greenwood County Fair that gave people resources to learn about flu shots, blood pressure, etc. I also helped to recruit people and collect samples for our annual bone marrow drive. This was particularly interesting because I never really knew much about bone marrow transplants before this event. I ended up getting swabbed myself and entering my DNA into the national database.

Community service is a very important part of the learning experience here at PCSP, and I am very glad that it is. I love learning new things about the community and pharmacy while helping others and having fun. There are so many opportunities each year for many different areas of interest, so it isn’t hard to find something that you will enjoy. I will continue to do community service for the rest of my career, and I owe every bit of that motivation to my school and my school family. Thanks PCSP! 

-Written By Courtney, P1 student