UA News

As the UA College of Pharmacy tries to turn middle school students on to becoming pharmacists, former PharmCamp participants are volunteering to do the same.

It was lollipops and anti-itch lotion that changed then-middle schooler Ilan Chao’s mind about becoming a doctor.

When Chao attended The University of Arizona College of Pharmacy’s summer camp, now known as PharmCamp, in 1999 she’d already made up her mind that she would work toward becoming a doctor.

But it was during some of the camp’s presentations – how to make lollipops and lip balm, learning about making prescription drugs – that Chao changed her made.

“We did compounding and learned how to use inhalers and take blood pressure,” Chao recalled.

“It was the first time I realized that there is more to health care than what I saw at the doctor’s office,” said Chao, now a third-year pharmacy doctoral student at the UA who is one of the former campers volunteering as a counselor this year.

“It was the first eye-opening experience that taught me pharmacy is about more than counting pills,” she said.

The UA students and faculty involved in PharmCamp 2008, now in its 11th year, continue to try to do the same for other Tucson area youth.

Rayna Carpio, who was completed the program in 1997 – its first year – is also volunteering this year.

Carpio said she recalls wanting to join the camp because her grandmother had been on several type of medication, so she wanted to learn more about health-related careers.

“The camp was really geared toward our level, and it was very informative – it wasn’t overwhelming,” said Carpio who began her pre-pharmacy studies at the UA before transferring to the University of Southern Nevada in 2005. She earned her PharmD this month.

“Before the camp, I didn’t know what the role of a pharmacist was all about,” she said. “I think kids want to be in field where they can make a difference,” she added, saying that pharmacists “help people in need and save lives.”

This year, 24 middle school students will participate in the camp, which includes interactive exercises, tours, workshops, off-campus visits and other activities.

This is the first year that students from Sunnyside Unified School District and Amphitheater Public Schools have been selected to participate in the five-day camp, said Theodore G. Tong, associate dean at the College of Pharmacy. Students also come from Mansfeld, Roskruge, Challenger and Doolen middle schools plus the UA-affiliated Wildcat School, a charter school.

“We want the campers to experience what it is like being here at the UA and what the University can offer,” Tong said. “We want them to be engaged in the learning process and to also learn something new and different.”

Beginning Monday morning, the campers will be involved in a series of activities and projects meant to inform them about the pharmacy field and to encourage them to not only consider becoming pharmacists, but to also to begin planning for college now. At the end of the camp, students give presentations on what they learned during the week.

“These experiences add a lot to developing their perspective and their aspirations in terms of where they want to be or what they would like to do,” Tong said.

“Everyone here is going to be telling them to study, to take math and learn science and find out more about what they want to do,” he said. “I think the bottom line is raising the consciousness the students have about things out there and how it will require them to be informed and educated in the process.”

Students will visit a pharmacy and heath clinic and also learn about sun safety, asthma, allergies, poison prevention and compounding – the process of mixing different types of prescription drugs to personalize medicine for a patient. They’ll also learn about how new medicines are developed, how they work and what they must do academically to prepare for a career in health care.

“I didn’t know anything about pharmacy until the camp,” Chao said. “It was the experiences that did it for me because I realized pharmacy was another way for me to use my love of science and chemistry to do something in the health field.”

Chao said she is now volunteering with the camp because she wants students to have that same experience.

“The camp has expanded a lot since I participated,” said Chao, who will spend the week helping with the itinerary and working with student participants. “This is a really good experience.”