Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Pharmacy School Grads Will Boost Our Valley Communities
Bill McEwen updated website photo 2024
By Bill McEwen, News Director
Published 6 years ago on
May 18, 2018

Share

Lauren Park graduated from USC. She was born and raised in Southern California, which she loves with all her heart.
Intent on becoming a pharmacist, Park sent out multiple applications and got the thumbs-up from schools in Massachusetts and Ohio.
Curious about team-based learning and wanting to remain close to her family, she enrolled instead in the College of Pharmacy at California Health Sciences University in Clovis.

Portrait of GV Wire News Director/Columnist Bill McEwen
Opinion
Bill McEwen
She, along with 61 others in the college’s first graduating class, will receive her Doctor of Pharmacy degree on Saturday.

Sixty-Two New Pharmacists

Guess what?
She’s planting her roots deeper here instead of heading home to Culver City.
“All of my friends are here,” Park explains. “There are just a lot of things keeping me in the Valley. There’s everything a large town has to offer, but with a small-town feel.”
One of the things keeping Park here is a job offer from Walgreens. Once she passes her board exams, she’ll be a full-fledged pharmacist.
Park isn’t an anomaly.

CSHU College of Pharmacy stats

 Pharmacy College Fulfills Mission

Sixty-five percent of the college’s graduates have accepted job offers, according to CHSU officials. Sixty-three percent say they are staying in the Valley. As exactly half of the graduates are from the Valley, this means that the Valley has grown on seven others from out of the area.
In addition, another 15% of the graduates are entering residency or fellowship programs.
In that regard, the College of Pharmacy is fulfilling the goals shared to the public when the Assemi family announced that it would commit $20 million to the venture in 2012: fill the Valley’s need for health-care workers and create a pipeline for new jobs.

Team Effort

Kathryn Estaya Baeza, for example, says that she’s looking to apply her pharmacy doctorate to the behavioral health field.
“These are the patients that I want to help. I want to give back to the community,” Baeza says.

Pharmacy school graduate Kathryn Estaya Baeza
“These are the patients that I want to help. I want to give back to the community.” — Kathryn Estaya Baeza
She is among the many remarkable stories in the Class of 2018. She became a mother at 19. But with her husband Anthony’s strong support, she graduated from Fresno City College and Fresno State before heading to the College of Pharmacy.
Baeza, like many of the pharmacy graduates, has benefited from the more than $1 million in scholarships awarded by the school and its partners since opening in 2014. She says she received scholarships totaling $12,500, and they made it easier for her to concentrate on her studies.
She will graduate Saturday and then go to work for Rite Aid.
Her advice to anyone contemplating enrolling in pharmacy school?
“It doesn’t matter where you are in your life. Do it.”

A Family of Pharmacists

Mher Attarian immigrated to the United States from Lebanon when he was 10 years old in 2000, joining his extended family in Fresno.
“Three of my older cousins and an aunt are pharmacists,” he says.

Pharmacy graduate Mher Attarian
“Three of my older cousins and an aunt are pharmacists.” — Mher Attarian
How does Attarian feel about joining the family profession?
“Pumped,” says the graduate with a Rite Aid job offer. “I want to get started as soon as possible.”

Next Stop: Valley Children’s Hospital

KC Yovino found her way from tiny Lakeview, Oregon, (population 2,294) to Fresno — passing up the opportunity to pursue a pharmacy degree at her alma mater, Oregon State.
She believed that the start-up Clovis school would provide a more stimulating learning environment than Oregon State which she said utilized a traditional lecture-based approach.

Pharmacy graduate KC Yovino
KC Yovino is graduating summa cum laude with a single “B” on an otherwise perfect academic record.
The fit was a good one. Yovino is graduating summa cum laude with a single “B” on an otherwise perfect academic record. Those marks helped her land a highly coveted residency at Valley Children’s Hospital.
Though the school is young, some classroom traditions are forming.
“When someone has a birthday, we dim the lights and sing ‘Happy Birthday,’ ” she says. “We’re like Pavlov’s dog. The lights dim and we sing.”

Cancel the Delivery, I’ve Got an Exam

Kang Yang was very pregnant when she started her CHSU studies and before long, her obstetrician scheduled a date to induce labor.
One problem. The date was right before the first exam of the semester. Yang told her husband Edwin Thao that she had an idea: “We can tell the O.B. to reschedule the induction for a week later.”

Married pharmacy school graduates Edwin Thao and Kang Yang
“We both ultimately want to help the community by opening up our own pharmacy.” — Edwin Thao
Then she actually asked the doctor for the delay.
His response: “You must be crazy. We’re inducing labor.”
Four years later, the family is headed to Thao’s hometown of Merced, where she will work for Rite Aid and he will work for CVS.
The goal of the pair, who met when they were UC Davis undergraduates?
“We both ultimately want to help the community,” Thao says, “by opening up our own pharmacy.”

DON'T MISS

Beyoncé Makes Grammy History With ‘Cowboy Carter,’ Leading 2025 Nominations

DON'T MISS

Macklin Celebrini, NHL’s Youngest Player, Scores on Marc-Andre Fleury, League’s Oldest

DON'T MISS

Ramsey, Beckham Return to SoFi Stadium When the Struggling Dolphins Visit the Streaking Rams

DON'T MISS

San Francisco’s First Black Female Mayor Concedes to Levi Strauss Heir

DON'T MISS

FBI Thwarts Iranian Murder-for-Hire Plan Targeting Donald Trump

DON'T MISS

Israeli Soccer Fans Were Attacked in Amsterdam. The Violence Was Condemned as Antisemitic

DON'T MISS

Longtime Dodgers Ace Clayton Kershaw Is on the Mend After 2 Surgeries

DON'T MISS

USDA Bans School Lunch Fees for Low-Income Families

DON'T MISS

Christian McCaffrey Expected to Make Season Debut for 49ers This Week

DON'T MISS

Southern California Wildfire Destroys 132 Structures as Officials Look for Fierce Winds to Subside

UP NEXT

Macklin Celebrini, NHL’s Youngest Player, Scores on Marc-Andre Fleury, League’s Oldest

UP NEXT

Ramsey, Beckham Return to SoFi Stadium When the Struggling Dolphins Visit the Streaking Rams

UP NEXT

San Francisco’s First Black Female Mayor Concedes to Levi Strauss Heir

UP NEXT

FBI Thwarts Iranian Murder-for-Hire Plan Targeting Donald Trump

UP NEXT

Israeli Soccer Fans Were Attacked in Amsterdam. The Violence Was Condemned as Antisemitic

UP NEXT

Longtime Dodgers Ace Clayton Kershaw Is on the Mend After 2 Surgeries

UP NEXT

USDA Bans School Lunch Fees for Low-Income Families

UP NEXT

Christian McCaffrey Expected to Make Season Debut for 49ers This Week

UP NEXT

Southern California Wildfire Destroys 132 Structures as Officials Look for Fierce Winds to Subside

UP NEXT

Stock Market Today: Wall Street Cruises Toward the Close of Its Best Week in a Year

Bill McEwen,
News Director
Bill McEwen is news director and columnist for GV Wire. He joined GV Wire in August 2017 after 37 years at The Fresno Bee. With The Bee, he served as Opinion Editor, City Hall reporter, Metro columnist, sports columnist and sports editor through the years. His work has been frequently honored by the California Newspapers Publishers Association, including authoring first-place editorials in 2015 and 2016. Bill and his wife, Karen, are proud parents of two adult sons, and they have two grandsons. You can contact Bill at 559-492-4031 or at Send an Email

San Francisco’s First Black Female Mayor Concedes to Levi Strauss Heir

1 hour ago

FBI Thwarts Iranian Murder-for-Hire Plan Targeting Donald Trump

1 hour ago

Israeli Soccer Fans Were Attacked in Amsterdam. The Violence Was Condemned as Antisemitic

1 hour ago

Longtime Dodgers Ace Clayton Kershaw Is on the Mend After 2 Surgeries

2 hours ago

USDA Bans School Lunch Fees for Low-Income Families

2 hours ago

Christian McCaffrey Expected to Make Season Debut for 49ers This Week

2 hours ago

Southern California Wildfire Destroys 132 Structures as Officials Look for Fierce Winds to Subside

2 hours ago

Stock Market Today: Wall Street Cruises Toward the Close of Its Best Week in a Year

2 hours ago

The Latest: House Remains in the Balance as World Reaction to Trump Victory Keeps Pouring In

2 hours ago

Middle East Latest: Israeli Defense Minister Officially Steps Down

2 hours ago

Beyoncé Makes Grammy History With ‘Cowboy Carter,’ Leading 2025 Nominations

NEW YORK — Welcome toBeyoncé country. When it comes to the 2025 Grammy Award nominations, “Cowboy Carter” rules the nation. She ...

19 mins ago

19 mins ago

Beyoncé Makes Grammy History With ‘Cowboy Carter,’ Leading 2025 Nominations

22 mins ago

Macklin Celebrini, NHL’s Youngest Player, Scores on Marc-Andre Fleury, League’s Oldest

Rams
42 mins ago

Ramsey, Beckham Return to SoFi Stadium When the Struggling Dolphins Visit the Streaking Rams

1 hour ago

San Francisco’s First Black Female Mayor Concedes to Levi Strauss Heir

1 hour ago

FBI Thwarts Iranian Murder-for-Hire Plan Targeting Donald Trump

1 hour ago

Israeli Soccer Fans Were Attacked in Amsterdam. The Violence Was Condemned as Antisemitic

2 hours ago

Longtime Dodgers Ace Clayton Kershaw Is on the Mend After 2 Surgeries

2 hours ago

USDA Bans School Lunch Fees for Low-Income Families

Search

Send this to a friend