Anyone who has ever been the target of someone else’s systematic mental or physical abuse knows what courage it takes to get out from under its power and find your own strength. Trista Smith was at that place.
Maybe it was her two bouts with cancer, the passing of her beloved great-grandmother, or her determination to show her two teenage sons’ what resilience, sacrifice and empowerment look like. She was stepping forward, toward a new career in Pharmacy Technology and a stronger sense of self. And they were watching.
Why was college and the Pharmacy Technology program your path forward?
I’d promised my great-grandmother that I’d get into health care and help other people like I’d helped her (as part of family support care). And because of me having had cancer and having to take a bunch of different pills, I wanted to know more about what we were taking, what we put into our bodies.
But it was going through my great-grandmother’s things that it just started eating at me and I felt like I really had to make this (career) move in my life.
What was your first step?
My mom, Sandra, was the one who suggested the Pharmacy Technology program at Carrington College.
She told me we were going for a ride one day and we ended up at the college. I figured, ok, we’d pop in and see how everything worked. I ended up touring the campus, took a look at the Pharmacy Technology classroom, did the admissions test, did the finances, had an interview with the dean, and enrolled all in the same day. I thought I may as well go for it!
How did you adjust to student life?
It was a struggle at first, being a single mom and having to pay for everything on my own. My mom, dad, and I had just bought property together; me and both boys live in the main house and my parents are in the mother-in-law suite we built.
I’d married right out of high school and a year later I was a mom. I was a stay-at-home mom for a few years then went to work managing two stores. But it was that promise to my great-grandmother that got me into healthcare. I felt like I had to do this – had to make this move in my life.
How was your program structured?
There were different modules (of six weeks). You didn’t have to cram it all in your head at the same time. I’m very hands-on style of learning, and the whole program was you-see-it, you-do-it. Not all bookwork. That learning style was what brought me to it.
I’d had a hard time in high school because it was all bookwork, so I’d worried about going to college. If this was going to be different, I was all for it.
Did you get the instructor support you needed in the program?
Ms. Taylor did an amazing job of teaching the class. She was very thorough and would go over things as many times as we needed to better understand. She would let us into the classroom early to study our drugs for tests and would always give us different ways to quiz each other and ways to remember things that might help.
Were there fun – as well as educational – moments in the classroom?
Everybody was just so much fun. Just learning together, figuring things out, going through the process – it was a great group to do that with. It wasn’t just class it was a life-changing experience for me.
What is one of the things you enjoyed most about the program?
My favorite was the compounding (mixing ingredients to form new product): non-sterile compounding part. We would learn how to make creams and pastes…ChapSticks and shower melts, and different ways you would put medications into other elements – how to mix them together. Like how shower melts, when steam hits them, sends vapors into the air to treat decongestion, using menthol and eucalyptus.
What was your greatest struggle in the program?
Because of Covid, we had to do the remote classroom experience for several months. It was definitely trying and taught me more patience trying to get my kids to do their school online, too.
My grades were good because I stayed up until 2:00 AM to get my homework done. I can’t tell you how many times I fell asleep on my homework and woke up with my papers stuck to my face. But my GPA was over 3.0. Toward the end of my program, we got to go back onto campus.
Did you ever struggle with self-doubt?
Honestly, having an abusive husband (now divorced) tell you there was ‘nothing you could do, you weren’t good enough and would never be good enough’, made me have to prove him wrong. It was an ode to myself to prove him – and everybody else who doubted me – they were wrong. My own voice echoed in my head, ‘You can’t let them stop you; you have to prove them wrong.’
Was there support from your family?
Both of my parents – and my boys – Raymond and Travis – always cheered me on. My mom and dad would keep an eye on my boys while I did my homework. They were the ones that would help get my kids dressed and ready to go out the door to school.
(Travis, age 17, interjects: “Sometimes Papa would help mom with homework, but she really didn’t need his help. She just felt more comfortable because he was right next to her. She kept thanking him and he’d just say, ‘That’s what you did on your own; that’s you; you accomplished that.’ Almost every single day I told her she could do it and she was smart enough. She graduated with honors and that’s very difficult to do in my eyes.”)
How did it feel to graduate from your program?
The boys and I were driving through Nevada and the car broke down, right next to a gas station in the middle of nowhere. As we waited four hours for a tow truck, I pulled out my iPad from school and watched them read off the names of graduates and saw “Congratulations, Trista Smith; you graduated from your Pharmacy Technology program”. I felt defeated because of the situation I was currently in, but excited that I’d actually done it, and the tow truck was on its way.
Where did you land after completion of your program?
I am now the Pharmacy Technician Manager and Office Manager at Red Rock Pharmacy where I did my externship (on the job experience) at the end of my PT program. I’m in charge of hiring, firing, purchasing and making sure things go smoothly throughout the week. I just got my 4-year raise and absolutely love my job. They are so amazing, and this is the company I plan to stay with.
Your advice to students or others considering Carrington College’s Pharmacy Technology program?
I would tell all Pharmacy Technology students to keep your mind open. Nothing comes easy. It may seem like a lot at times, but it’s going to be totally worth it in the end. Don’t ever give up on yourself.
