Focusing On Health: Student Spotlight

I have loved meeting Emma, a former collegiate athlete, and learning how she used lessons from her former athletic training to build healthy habits in pharmacy school. Read below for her story:

Emma, 4th Year Pharmacy Student

My name is Emma and I am a fourth year student at University of Florida College of Pharmacy. I come from a British family with not one, but two sets of twins (yes, you read that correctly). I have two identical twin brothers and an identical twin sister, who is actively pursuing a career in medicine. As you can imagine, our household was a constant whirlwind of activity, where weekends were either spent on the court or on the field. When I turned fourteen, I found myself captivated by the world of competitive volleyball, which ultimately led to my recruitment to play NCAA Division II volleyball. Once at college, I transitioned to a life of two-a-days while averaging over 20 hours a week on the court. I would be lying if I said it was as easy as some professional athletes make it seem, but our team made it to both a Final Four and a National Championship. I have always believed in the primacy of academics over everything, but at that stage of my life, it often seemed like I was defined by how high I could jump, how much weight I could lift, and how fast I could sprint. I constantly had to balance my athletic life with my academic life. Through this process, I learned the importance of developing healthy habits.

One of my goals entering pharmacy school was to maintain the same healthy lifestyle that had become seamlessly embedded in my daily routine as an undergraduate student athlete. Along with pharmacy school came a hospital internship, student organizations, research projects, leadership positions, and countless hours watching lectures and studying during my “down time.” This year, rotations and NAPLEX review can be added to the list. When I first started pharmacy school, I struggled to find a routine that allowed me to juggle my studies, fitness, and personal time. Still, I believe adaptability is an essential quality every future pharmacist should have. I had to come to the realization that I could no longer dedicate all my free time to fitness. My priorities shifted, which was a hard concept for the inner athlete in me to grasp. I went from hours in the gym to hours in DiPiro. I truly believe that being a collegiate athlete gave me the necessary skills I needed to successfully balance the new chapter with the old chapter of my life.

As I entered my second and third years of pharmacy school, I realized the key to maintaining both fitness and wellness was about routine. I dedicated 4-5 nights of the week on fitness, even if that meant accepting that I couldn’t devote my entire life to studying. Undoubtedly, learning how to time manage has been one of the strongest qualities propelling me through pharmacy school. It has allowed me to get sufficient sleep every night and spend more time on my fitness, reducing overall anxiety and stress that are guaranteed to accompany pharmacy school. As I grew as a person, I also felt myself growing as a leader. However, I learned not to accept every leadership opportunity that came my way. In my second year, I had several organization leadership positions, but quickly found myself investing more time on my hospital internship, which led to my being voted in as Chief Intern in my third year. It is all about the quality of experience you get, not the quantity. 

As I begin my fourth year, I can’t begin to know what challenges await me. What I do know is that I have years of experience in building up a system that has allowed me to conquer volleyball, undergraduate studies, and my first three years of pharmacy school. All of these experiences have molded me into the person I am today and the pharmacist I will become in the future.