Vanessa Lam
22 September 2014: University of Canberra pharmacy student, Nabeel Jafri, has won the 2014 Capital Chemist Community Pharmacy First Year Prize. Mr Jafri, now in his second year, said he was "surprised" when he found out he had won the prize.
"The people I was up against were stellar candidates. I feel as they were just as deserving," he said. "I was extremely happy to tell my family I won. They supported me through the lot and were, no doubt, very pleased with me."
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Peter Downing and Elise Apolloni from Capital Chemist congratulate UC student Nabeel Jafri (right) after winning the 2014 Capital Chemist Community Pharmacy First Year Prize. Photo: Michelle McAulay. |
The Capital Chemist First Year Prize is an award bestowed to the top University of Canberra first year pharmacy student, in recognition of academic achievement by University staff and peers.
The prize includes $1,750 to help the student take care of the financial pressures of university by allowing them to focus on their future in pharmacy.
Elise Apolloni, manager from Capital Chemist Wanniassa, believes it is important to have prizes such as this for students because it allows them to focus more on their studies and be recognised and rewarded for their commitment in becoming a pharmacist.
"Students often feel incredible pressure to perform academically, participate in extra-curricular activities and maintain a casual or part time job. The Capital Chemist Prize allows the student recipient to reach their full potential by taking some of the financial pressure away, and hopefully encourages them to continue to excel in their pharmacy studies and profession as a whole," she said.
Mr Jafri said he became interested in pharmacy after experiencing many interactions with different healthcare professionals when he was younger due to health problems.
"The part that appealed to me most was the medication compliance side of things –I was made aware of the fact that many hospitalizations are due to issues with patient medications," he said.
Mr Jafri said that it was "initiatives such as the Capital Chemist Prize that make it a lot more enjoyable to strive for success at UC".
Capital Chemist has sponsored the prize since 2009, when the first awardee, a University of Canberra master's student received the award.
