We’re pleased to announce the recipient of the Spring 2018 NHA Career Bridge Scholarship, Julie Pham, CPhT.
This scholarship seeks to reward recently NHA certified allied health professionals, who go above and beyond to help others while pursuing their certification, bridge the gap between certification and the next step in their career.
Julie will receive a cash prize of $1,000, which she plans to use to help support her continuing education on her journey toward becoming a pharmacist. She will also receive a career counseling session and an opportunity to "pay it forward" by giving $500 to her allied health training program — West Potomac Academy — to assist with clinical supplies and resources for the classroom.
Julie earned her pharmacy technician certification (CPhT) by passing the ExCPT after completing health sciences courses at West Potomac Academy — a school that offers specialized health sciences, communication & the arts and human services courses for highly motivated students from approximately 20 area high schools in Fairfax County, Virginia.
She graduated with an impressive GPA of 4.155 while taking challenging Advanced Placement (AP) courses. And if that weren’t enough, she speaks three languages fluently — Vietnamese, Japanese and English. In all regards, she’s an exemplary student with high aspirations and incredible potential.
But it’s not just academics that make her stand out. Julie’s passion for caring for others shines through in everything she does. She’s been volunteering at her library since she was in sixth grade, eventually becoming a Reading Teacher Specialist.
“I was able to see how much books could influence children and how they will shape the future,” Julie says.
That passion for caring for others is especially true for her family. As a caretaker for her cousin, she not only helped make sure he was fed, but she also tutored him starting at a young age. She’s one of the few people in her family who speaks fluent English and helped him learn the language. As he got older she began assisting him with his homework, and with the help of her math tutoring, he qualified for advanced placement in mathematics as a sixth-grader!
Along with her passion for helping others, what has drawn Julie toward a career in healthcare is her diabetic father. It hurts her to see him take several medications and watch the toll diabetes is having on his body. She’s incredibly grateful and inspired by the hard work he does to support her and wants to be a pharmacy technician, and one day, a pharmacist so she can give back to him and others like him.
“Through my actions, I aspire to help others regardless of how minimal the tasks may seem at first,” Julie wrote in her scholarship essay.
“I strive to learn and influence the community public health in a bigger way. I also long to see the smiles on the faces of my patients and to know that I was able to help them to the best of my ability.”
Julie is a well-deserving recipient of the first NHA Career Bridge Scholarship, and we’re honored to be able to play a small part in helping her reach her goals. With her talent, work ethic and passion for helping others, we know she’s well on her way to achieving her dreams.
Read more about NHA's new scholarship program.