An interview with Sumer Hudson Holdsambeck and Seth Young
Sumer started HOSA her junior year of high school (2013-2014) with the intention of learning more about dentistry and getting experience working in a dental office. She thought she was going to love it, but something just didn't feel right. She never felt like it matched her personality. She couldn't really engage with the patients as much as she would have liked while working on their teeth.
HOSA helped broaden her experiences with different medical fields and discover the path she wanted to take in college. Pharmacy fit her personality perfectly. It is very structured and organized and she loves that it requires precision, but also allows her time to engage with her patients and talk to them about their needs.
"I always knew I wanted to go into something medical, I just couldn't decide what for sure."
After she graduated high school she started a part-time job at the local CVS. She ended up loving it and stayed for 6 years. During that time, she also worked at the Bibb Medical Center pharmacy as a pharmacy technician and eventually a pharmacy intern.
Sumer attended the University of Montevallo and majored in biology with a minor in chemistry. She then applied to Sanford University for pharmacy school and was accepted. She came to work at J&S Drug after completing her doctorate in pharmacy in 2023.
"My advice to anyone is to get the experience first before commit to a certain degree track. Even it’s just to shadow someone. "
Seth was unable to attend HOSA in high school due to athletics and scheduling conflicts. Looking back, he says at the time is was a female dominated class and he thought it was only for those interested in nursing, but he wishes he would have anyways because in his senior year of high school he was accepted to Ole Miss for prepharmacy, but didn't go because he wasn't 100% sure he wanted to commit to pharmacy. Prepharmacy requires a certain ACT score and GPA from high school seniors that would have saved him some time and costs. Prepharmacy fast tracks earning your Doctorate of Pharmacy to just 6 years. Learn more here: https://www.samford.edu/pharmacy/pre-pharmacy
Even without HOSA, Seth knew he wanted to go into healthcare so he got a job at CVS pharmacy right after graduation to gain experience. He ended up loving it and working there for 7 years throughout his time in pharmacy school.
Seth went to the University of Alabama for undergrad. He took Prehealth Studies for 2 years and then transferred to Samford University where he completed his Doctorate of Pharmacy.
"My advice would be to job shadow first and make sure it’s what you want to do. Work in the field before you apply to a specific program."
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