Associate in Arts

Prosper Doe grew up in Ada, a small village in the Greater Accra region of Ghana in West Africa. He graduated from Labone High School in 2004 and began studying consumer science at the University of Ghana, Legon. Doe was one of very few people from his village to completed high school and attend college. In 2010 he moved to the United States and after a year of working in the retail industry decided to pursue his life-long dream of becoming a pharmacist. Enrolling at YVCC he took prerequisite courses before transferring to Central Washington University to pursue a bachelor’s degree. He then plans to transfer to Washington State University to pursue a degree in pharmacy.

Doe was one of 11 students who participated in summer research projects through a science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) grant with Heritage University. His chemistry project focused on extracting and measuring the percent of alpha and beta acids present in a hop sample, using different solvents that include hexane, ethyl alcohol, petroleum ether, and isopropyl ether. The main objective was to find which of the solvents would give the highest percent of the acids.

What made you choose YVCC?

I chose to attend YVCC because I realized it is what I needed to achieve my goals. YVCC offered small class sizes, quality professors, and state-of-the-art teaching facilities. I knew I was going to benefit from the one-on-one attention that YVCC professors give to their students. Furthermore, YVCC offers almost all the prerequisite courses I needed to take for pharmacy school. The cost of attendance at YVCC is less than other institutions, which also brought some needed financial relief.

What made you choose pharmacy?

I grew up in West Africa and was a first-hand witness to the despair and frustration of individuals in my country and continent, struggling to survive diseases such as malaria, malnutrition, polio, HIV/AIDS, and many more. Too many times I have witnessed the enfeeblement and mortality of the otherwise robust life of these individuals due to diseases. I decided to become a pharmacist so I can dispense medications to these patients to help save their lives.

Would you have had the opportunity to work toward your goals without YVCC?

YVCC has been a major resource towards reaching my goal of becoming a pharmacist. At this moment, it is unclear if I still would have been able to achieve this goal without YVCC, but the one thing I can say for sure is that, YVCC has made my journey to pharmacy school very easy and straightforward. Dr. Sam Mazhari and Jared Seveyka are two YVCC instructors that gave me tremendous help, in terms of advising and explaining lecture materials to me.

What made you interested in participating in YVCC’s summer research project?

I saw the summer research project as an opportunity to practice chemistry materials learned in lectures, learn how to conduct scientific research as well as broaden the span of my knowledge. I knew working with the research team would also help me improve my team player skills.

Why is this experience valuable to you as a student? Has it helped provide you with skills that you otherwise wouldn’t have obtained?

Participating in the STEM summer research project was an invaluable experience to me. I acquired many skills that I otherwise would have not obtained, and many of those skills I believe would be very useful to me while in the graduate pharmacy program.