UMSOP Chapter of SNPhA Places in Finals at National Competition

Written By: Oluseyi Olasupo, Third Year Student Pharmacist and President, School of Pharmacy Chapter of the Student National Pharmaceutical Association


The Student National Pharmaceutical Association (SNPhA) was founded in 1972 and is comprised of pharmacy students who are concerned about the profession of pharmacy, health care issues, and minority representation in these areas. The University of Maryland School of Pharmacy’s (UMSOP) student chapter organizes, coordinates, and executes programs geared towards the improvement of the health, educational, and social environment of minority communities.

Our chapter attended the 2024 National Pharmaceutical Association/SNPhA Annual Convention in sunny Los Angeles, Calif., this August. The theme of this year’s convention was “Our Prescription for Progress.” In late December 2023, teams from various SNPhA chapters around the country applied to the Walmart Prescription for Service Scholarship Competition by submitting an idea for a project that would make a lasting impact on their community. Of all the submissions, five teams were chosen as finalists and awarded a $2,500 grant from Walmart to bring their project idea to life. As a finalist we gave a presentation and a poster about our event to the Walmart sponsors at the convention in August.

The project idea for our team, Mindful Marvels, was to host a mental health field day at UMSOP for middle and high school students in our Baltimore community. The event was held in June, where we engaged in activities such as guided yoga, a stress ball room, and a game room. All were designed to provide the students with practical strategies for managing stress. We also led tours of the University of Maryland, Baltimore’s Pharmacy, Dentistry, and Medical schools and hosted a panel of health profession students to offer attendees insight into future health care careers.

Although we didn’t win the Prescription for Service competition, we were one of the five finalists. We were proud of our team and what we had accomplished, especially shedding light on a topic that isn’t talked about often in minority communities – the importance of mental health and how it affects younger populations.

In the future, SNPhA hopes to utilize all the connections made at the annual meeting as well as lessons learned from participating in the competition. Our plan is to host the mental health field day in the future and recurrent years, each time being bigger and more accessible to more children in our Baltimore community.

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