Warrior Magazine June 2019

career in pharmacy is to seize every academic opportunity, while maintaining a proper balance between academic and personal life. “As an ECCC student, I became involved in various academic organizations, such as Mu Alpha Theta, Sigma Sigma Mu Tau, Phi Theta Kappa, President’s Coun cil, and the Warrior Corps recruiting team,” she said. “By being actively involved in these organizations, I began crafting my future role as a pharmacist through public service opportunities, leadership roles, and public speaking engagements.” She also encourages students to research and familiarize themselves with the various areas of pharmacy that are available to them as a career. She said after beginning her career as a hospital pharmacist, she was amazed by the number of people who were not aware that careers could expand beyond that of retail phar macy. “Most individuals are only familiar with retail pharmacists simply because those are the only pharmacists they interact with from a public standpoint. Most other pharmacy career opportunities, such as a hospital/clinical pharmacy, nuclear pharmacy, hospital administration, and oncology pharmacy, are seen from a ‘behind the scenes’ perspective. “Even though a large number of pharmacy students graduate pharmacy school with the intent on pursuing retail/community pharmacy as their profession, they should know that there are other available pharmacy career options.” Outside of her pharmacy career, Evans has varied interests. She is an active member of Antioch Christian Church in Hickory where she participates in a variety of activities. She is also an avid reader of biographical and autobiographical books, enjoys watching new romantic comedy movie releases, writing old-fashioned letters to family and friends, gardening, and spending time with her family and friends. She is also an avid traveler, both domestic and international, and said she ac quired the “travel bug” while an undergraduate at Mississippi State. “I had the opportunity to fly to a medical conference. Once I returned home, my family and I planned an air-travel trip to New York City; and, as they say, the rest is history!” She has traveled to 34 states within the United States and hopes to see the other 16 in the next few years. Her excursions have included New York City, a birthday trip to Philadelphia, Pa., and she has also visited many of the Ivy League Schools in the U.S., including Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, and Brown. In 2010, she traveled with her pharmacy school class to London for a two-week course in which she studied the similarities and differences between U.S. Healthcare and Great Britain Healthcare. “During our time there, we had the opportunity to visit the Tower of London and Tower Bridge, Hyde Park, the British Museum, Buckingham Palace, Kensing ton Palace, The Coca-Cola London Eye, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Trafalgar Square, Big Ben, House of Parliament, Windsor Castle, St. George’s Chapel, the Crown Jewels, and the Changing of the Guard. On our weekend off, I, along with three of my best friends, were allowed to travel to Paris for the weekend. We were able to visit the Eiffel Tower for dinner, take a cruise on the Seine River, and visit many historic sites such as the Mona Lisa at the Louvre Museum, Arc de Triomphe, Champs-Élysées, and Notre Dame.” In addition to London and Paris, she said other favorite places she has visited outside the U.S. include Niagara Falls in Ontario, Canada; Dublin, Ireland; and Edinburgh, Scotland. She often travels with her family, and in 2015 they celebrated her parents’ 36th wedding anniversary in Honolulu, Hawaii. She and her aunt took a trip to San Francisco where they visited The Golden Gate Bridge, and many other tourist spots. She and her family have also traveled to multiple cities in Texas and numer ous historic sites and landmarks in the United States, including The Liberty Bell, Mount Rushmore National Memorial, Yellowstone National Park, and others. Along her journey, Evans has also been able to meet numerous famous people. Among her favorites are former First Lady Laura Bush, former First Daughters Jenna Bush Hager and Barbara Bush Coyne, country music star Car rie Underwood, and HGTV’s Home Town stars Ben and Erin Napier, who are from Mississippi. She has also had the opportunity to hear multiple U.S. Presi dents speak at different conferences, including current U.S. President Donald J. Trump.

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