Harlem High School students get experience in the pharmaceutical profession

ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — 16 Harlem High School students walked the graduation stage for the UW Health Northern Illinois Pharmacy Technician Summer Internship on June 26th.

“I was like, Oh, I’m interested in science and maybe possibly health care,” said Julia Dagdayan. “And they were like, Oh, well, there’s this program. And I was like, Oh, that sounds pretty interesting. And honestly, it was really great.”

The program gave the students real work experience for around a month inside a hospital. The main goal was training to be pharmacist technicians, however, students had the chance to explore being doctors, nurses and more.

“My favorite part was watching and participating in the making of medicine and learning how it was made,” said Kelvin Trinh.

The program kicked off this year really aimed at helping solve a need in Rockford and around the world. According to a stat, pharmacy technician vacancies are up to 40% across the country.

“So in addition to getting their pharmacy technician license, they also now have completed core training that is nationally accredited,” said UW Health Northern Illinois Senior Director of Pharmacy Thomas Carey. “Even if they don’t stay on here at UW Health, Northern Illinois, they now have foundational knowledge and experience to be able to go work at a Walgreens or a CVS or any of the regional hospitals in the community.”

Those with Harlem High School are hoping this is just the start of a long-lasting internship.

“We started with 130 interns and narrowed it down to the 16 that were here, and it was a very proud moment not only to bring the program to Harlem and provide it for our students but also to see the graduation rate at 100% for a first year,” said Harlem High School Staff Shayna and Patty.

UW Health and Harlem High School plan to make this a yearly internship.

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