CU Pharmacy Inspires Prospective Pharmacy Students at State Convention

Every year more than 2,000 high school students from across Colorado convene in downtown Denver for the annual HOSA State Leadership Conference. HOSA, the Health Occupations Students of America, is a global student-led organization that helps its members learn about healthcare careers while still in high school.

A centerpiece of the annual conference is the competitive events that allow students to flex their science and healthcare knowledge in close to 100 different areas. From anatomy and physiology to medical innovation and behavioral health, students compete in hands-on events and written tests to see who will come out on top.

For the second year in a row, CU Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences was the conference’s Platinum Sponsor and is responsible for making pharmacy part of the health occupations event. Long before the conference takes place, CU Pharmacy faculty and students help high school students across the state prep for the pharmacy competitions by leading in-person practice sessions and providing educational resource materials.

Compounding Instructor Sue Finstrom, along with current pharmacy students, leads practice sessions for the high school students participating in the competitive HOSA pharmacy events.

This year’s pharmacy competitors benefited from the comprehensive support of Compounding Instructor and Research Pharmacist Susan Finstrom and second-year PharmD student Maddie Overlie. Judges in the HOSA pharmacy competitions included Dr. Jennifer Petrie from Village Medical in Fort Collins, Dr. Justin VandenBerg from Denver Health, and Drs. Sunny Linnebur and Jacci Bainbridge from School of Pharmacy.

The CU School of Pharmacy provided scholarships to the top three Colorado Pharmacology and Pharmacy Science winners to travel and compete at the HOSA International Leadership Conference in Nashville in June.

Madison Ricco, PharmD, inspires students with her pharmacy research path.

In addition to participating in competitions, the future healthcare professionals attended seminars and workshops that aligned with their interest area. Madison Ricco, PharmD, a post-doctoral academic fellow, presented a symposium session on the research opportunities available to PharmD students at CU. As part of her Doctor of Pharmacy education, Dr. Ricco had the chance to research how nanomedicine could someday be used as an alternative delivery method for treating cancer.

Chandler Follett, PharmD, clinical instructor and CU Pharmacy outreach specialist, organized two student panels led by second-year pharmacy students Maddie Overlie, Anastasia Zhivotov, Thomas Riley, and Genevieve Frye. The panel discussions provided high school attendees with a current pharmacy student perspective on everything from what it takes to get into pharmacy school to the wide-ranging career options available to a CU graduate with a Doctor of Pharmacy degree.

Recruitment Director Amanda Ryder talks with high school students about what a career in pharmacy could look like.

In between the competitions, group activities and presentations, the CU Pharmacy Recruitment team of Amanda Ryder and Sydney Stoychoff were busy spinning the “wheel of pharmacy” and answering questions from potential future pharmacists at the School’s table in the exhibit hall.

By the close of the HOSA Conference, the 2300 attendees returned to their respective high schools; some with bragging rights, others with new skills, and all with a sharper vision of what their future career in healthcare could look like.