Master's degree presentation

I realized that I have done a really bad job of taking pictures while I have been in school. There are alot of people that I am going to miss after graduation; we have been through so much together over the last 5 years, but I don't have a single picture of them! Last week I decided I needed to do better. I know it is a little late, but I am determined to take as many pictures as I can until graduation! I want to be able to look back ten years from now and remember what I barely lived through accomplished and who was there with me along the way.

This past Monday night I remembered to bring camera along for my final Master's Presentation. This was the last major hurdle I needed to jump in order to meet all the requirements for graduation just prior to returning to OH. When I decided to go back to school, I chose to do a joint degree program and complete my Master's of Clinical Research, MSCR, along with the Pharmacy Doctorate, PharmD, at the same time. This MSCR project has been in the works for the last 4 years. It was a long, tedious project that really frayed my nerves at times. At times I just wanted to say "forget it!" But this past week our group finally presented our final thesis presentation to faculty members to meet the last requirement for graduation. We took this picture just after we finished...we were both tired and relieved...mostly tired.


Leigh & Heather, MSCR presentation, April 25, 2011

We started this project a long time ago, lost one group member along the way, but we were determined to finish the degree! It was so much work, and it got even trickier when I moved to Ohio and was extremely limited as to how often I could meet etc....

Leigh was an awesome MSCR partner and is one of my best friends in pharmacy school. We were both 2 of the handful of people in our class who were older and married with children in pharmacy school.  He and his wife were two of our most loyal prayer warriors over the last 18 months when Chris was here in OH, and I was still there trying to finish up school and sell our house in NC. He also worked full-time through pharmacy school (which is terribly difficult to do), so many times he was often just as tired as I was. His words of encouragement lifted me up on many days, and I will always remember that! Finishing this project with him meant more to both of us because of all the trials and tribulations that we faced along the way.

Our MSCR project was titled "Survey of satisfaction of patients that receive influenza vaccinations in a retail pharmacy setting." And we may even get it published :) That is a pretty big deal for nerdy people. Ha!

It was a 45 minute presentation followed by about 20 minutes of discussion and questions. It can be a pretty intimidating process, and we have heard horror stories about how tough the faculty can be as they grill you with questions during the final presentation. We made it through alive, and it was not as bad as we were anticipating. We did it!! Wooo-Hoo! 

I am so happy it is DONE!  My last hurdle. DONE. I have officially completed all things school related. All I have left to do is dance like a crazy person walk across the stage at graduation (in 2 weeks) and pass my boards!! Did I mention I was done? ;)