Pharmacy Camp: Learning and health care and dreaming of the future

by Evelyn Filleman, student writer 

This year, the College of Pharmacy partnered with Walgreens to host the 16th annual Pharmacy Camp. The camp is designed for high school sophomores-rising college freshmen who are interested in health care and want to learn more about the profession. This year, 21 students attended, participating in various projects and activities aimed at exploring different aspects of pharmacy in fun, engaging ways. 

Dr. Richard Ward, assistant dean of admissions for the College of Pharmacy, served as the camp’s director this year.

“We wanted to bring in anyone who has an interest in pharmacy and show them the different aspects,” Ward said. “When people hear ‘pharmacy,’ they typically think of the professionals at the retail level, and while that is probably one of the most important jobs — they’re the last people who see the medicine before it’s distributed — there are other positions that go beyond that. There are clinical pharmacists in hospitals, nuclear pharmacists, oncology, veterinary pharmacy … you name it, they’re in our field.”

This is the first year of a multi-day camp since 2020, when the typically week-long session was changed to a one-day event. With the camp’s week-long resumption, many new activities and experiments were added to showcase the wide array of pharmacy involvement. These include DNA sequencing concepts, urinalysis and chemical compounding.

A camp student, Julia from San Antonio, Texas, found the content to be engaging and practical.

“We've been doing so many labs and creating experiments of things we use every day,” Julia said. “We’ve made acne gel and face wash … made lollipops and did other health-related things, like a urinary analysis. Getting to work with and understand how my everyday products work has been really interesting.”

Not only did the students participate in hands-on activities, but they also spent time researching and presenting on a career path within pharmacy that interests them. 

For camp student Baylor from Searcy, this time of focus encouraged reflection and dreaming about the future.

“I really enjoyed making friends; none of us knew each other before this, actually,” Baylor said. “
Seeing what God had in store for this week has been super cool. Last summer, I got the chance to go to Nicaragua on a mission trip that was medically-focused, and it was a really good experience. We got to help people and experience God in a lot of ways; one of the doctors there gave me lots of suggestions about how to go further with [health care], and after doing this camp, I think it's something I want to keep doing in the future.”

Additionally, faculty from the College of Pharmacy enjoy the opportunity to build relationships with future University students. Professors plan the activities and schedule, creating content and teaching it to the attendees. This provides the perfect setting for connection and mentorship, showing students that faculty involvement goes beyond teaching classes and giving lectures

“The camp gives [students] a good exposure to our faculty and helps them to see what we’re really all about,” Ward said. “We, like most of the Harding professors, feel that we’re different from other universities. You can get a pharmacy education anywhere, but building relationships with the faculty members, knowing that you’re not just a number on the back row, is super important. We want to make sure that students are seeing the connective side of what we are, because yes, we’re pharmacy, but we’re also a community.”

Pharmacy Camp 2026 is set to take place June 14-18, with even more opportunities and impactful stories to come.