Move over Miss America, the College of Pharmacy building held its annual Mr. Pharmacy pageant on Tuesday, March 26.
With an audience of 35 people, the eight contestants competed for the title of Mr. Pharmacy in four events, which included pill counting, vaccine darts, a drug spelling bee, and a Q&A.
Each contestant was a representative of one of the many pharmacy organizations in the College of Pharmacy, with three judges awarding points for each event to the winners.
Vice president of internal affairs of Lambda Kappa Sigma pharmacy fraternity Jasmine Hawley organized the Mr. Pharmacy event.
“It’s a pageant for pharmacy students and pre-pharm students to compete for the title of Mr. Pharmacy where they’ll earn a crown and sash and then there’s a plaque on the wall that we put their name on,” Hawley said.
Hawley, along with the Lambda Kappa Sigma president Macy Ilmberger, put together this event for many students to come and watch. The pharmacy organizations got to watch and cheer for their representatives as they competed.
This pageant has been around for eight years since it started in 2016. The students get to show off their pharmaceutical skills during competitions, like the drug spelling bee, where contestants spell out the names of certain drugs, and pill counting, where they are judged on speed and accuracy.
For the contestants, Mr. Pharmacy serves as a break from the day-to-day classes and the workload that comes along with it. Because of this event, Ilmberger felt that she got to take time out of her busy schedule to stop and enjoy a day with her friends.
“It’s just a way to build camaraderie with our class,” Ilmberger said. “Pharmacy school is pretty hard. We have to study all the time and there isn’t always a whole lot of opportunity to do fun things, so this is something fun that we can do with members of our class where we don’t have to study.”
Second-year graduate pharmacy student Kameron Stoddard competed in this year’s pageant after taking home the crown last year.
“This gets the community together and gets people to come out and watch something and kind of relax for a sec[ond], so I think it’s a great event,” Stoddard said.
Even with confidence, Stoddard lost the crown this year but demonstrated good sportsmanship by crowning the new winner at the end of the pageant.
C.E. – EC/RS/AM