As I entered the TSA line, I felt the usual thrill of excitement a traveler gets at the beginning of a trip. But this time, the usual thrill was accompanied by more—the anticipation of seeing familiar faces and making new friends at West Coast Pharmacy Exchange in San Francisco. This was my third year attending WCPE, and like always, fellow students asked, “why do you make such an effort to attend? Don’t you get nervous traveling right before test week?”
Although questions like these did cause me anxiety, my experiences during the past 2 years affirmed my decision to attend. WCPE 2016 provided me with not only an opportunity to learn new pharmacy pearls not yet covered in my school curriculum, but also moments to meet pharmacists and students from other geographical regions and practice niches. My favorite part of the weekend, however, was Saturday afternoon, when different schools of pharmacy were able to engage in friendly competition in the Annual Pharmacy Quiz Bowl and the Pain Management Clinical Counseling competition. These events allowed us to cheer not only Loma Linda participants, but also new and old friends from different schools. All in all, WCPE 2016 was a great time to mingle, learn, and decompress.
Grace Shinn
Loma Linda University School of Pharmacy
Class of 2017