Three Pieces of Paper

   A few months ago, during a round of Table Topics, I was asked what my greatest accomplishment was. I wasn't sure how to answer. I'm not sure I accomplished anything great. I didn't set any records in school. I didn't invent anything or accomplish any extraordinary feat. Then it came to me.

  I got three pieces of paper. I'll explain.

  When I was in grade school, I had to take some special education classes. I still remember what the program was called. It was SLBP, special learning and behaviour problems. These days I would have been classified as a special needs student. While I am grateful for the extra help I received from gifted and kind teachers, putting me in those classes gave me a label. I was a retard. That meant I was fair game to be picked on and teased. No big deal. Kids being kids. At that time no one knew what bullying does to the victim. No one cared. It was no big deal.

   I was bullied from fourth grade until twelfth grade. Had I had access to firearms I could very well have been one of those students that brings a gun to school and shoots their tormentors to make the bullying stop. Since that was not an option I started to contemplate the other option. I started having suicidal thoughts. It was the only way I could stop the bullying. 

  The only thing that kept me alive was knowing that if I did kill myself, my classmates including the ones who were bullying me would get a day off from school to attend my funeral. They wouldn't attend though, they'd party or cruise town or spend the day shopping. I didn't want to give them that, so I stayed alive. I clung the the fact that high school was only four years. If I studied hard, I could go to college and go someplace far away where I could start over without the bullies. I succeeded and graduated from high school. I got my first piece of paper.

  Off to Fargo I went, excited to make a brand new start and a brand new life. One boy from my high school went to Fargo as well. He left after one quarter because he failed to make the hockey team. 

  College was hard. I was used to getting A and B grades. In college I was getting B and C grades. I worked as hard as I could.  After doing two years of prepharmacy classes, I applied to pharmacy school. I was waitlisted over the summer, but did manage to get in starting that fall.

  Pharmacy school was even harder. I'm not intellectually gifted. What made it harder was Dr. Williams who taught pharmaceutics. He saw it as part of his job to weed out those he thought were not suited to the profession. He was hated by everyone. He was called Conehead behind his back. He was notorious for giving exams that had nothing to do with the material he taught in class. I still remember one of his test questions. What does BASF stand for? I didn't know then. I still don't.  Because I did not make the minimum grade in his class, I was not able to take the rest of the classes in the series. This put me behind.

  I was working as hard as I could and felt like I was failing. I made an appointment to talk to Professor Richards, who taught pathophysiology. I was not doing well in his class either. I don't remember what he said, but I remember leaving feeling encouraged and determined to make it through.

  I was not the only one who was behind in classes. There were ten other students in the same boat. We banded together through the rest of school. We studied together, we took summer school together and we supported each other. We had a motto C=RPh.  A C was the minimum grade needed to pass classes and go on. 

  The ten of us made it. We were able to graduate with the rest of our class, the last class at North Dakota to earn a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy. Despite the fact that college graduations are long and boring, I walked across that stage and accepted my degree. I got my second piece of paper.

  After doing a graduate internship, I had one hurdle left before I could work as a pharmacist. I had to take the Board of Pharmacy licensing exam. It was daunting. The exams were only given in January and July and lasted two days. There was NAPLEX which is a general knowledge test, state law, federal law and compounding. I was scared of the compounding test. Compounding was my weakest subject. 

  I moved in with my parents and studied three hours every day except the weekends from October to the time the test would be given. There was one obstacle I didn't count on.

  Mr. Heller, the Secretary and head of the Board of Pharmacy, did not like "foreign" pharmacy graduates. Foreign to him was anyone who had not attended the University of Minnesota. I went to NDSU. I was in trouble. The first thing he did was deny my internship hours. In order to test for the exam you have to do a certain amount of internship hours. His denial was based on the fact that my internship hours were not done in Minnesota. Actually my hours were in Minnesota. I did my hospital rotation in Breckenridge and my retail in Moorhead. My graduate internship was completed in Grand Rapids. Then he tried to deny my clinical work. I did that at the V.A. in Fargo. Since the V.A. is a federal institution, he could not deny the hours. Then he said there was an issue with my birth certificate. I fixed that then my paperwork got "lost". 

  Finally I was cleared to take the Board exam. I was scared. I had to pass. If I didn't pass I would have to wait six months to retake it. I couldn't wait. I had loans to repay and I wanted to work. On a cold day in January, a few of my pharmacy school friends and I took the test.

  Then we waited. In those days the tests were on paper and graded by hand. I wouldn't know until March if I had passed. I put together a resume. I gathered addresses of where to send them. I helped my dad out with projects. I did my best  not to worry.

   One day, I got a letter from the Board of Pharmacy. It had my results. I had passed all four of the tests. I was now a licensed pharmacist. I got my third piece of paper. 

   When my formal license arrived, I took it to a frame shop. I had it matted and framed. Most people just put it in an inexpensive frame. Not me. I worked waaaay too hard to do that. 

   I had done what I had set out to do back in high school. I knew back then if I stayed alive, worked hard and got my education, I could escape. I would never be prey to bullies again.

   I have not set any records, or done any amazing feats. My greatest accomplishment was getting three pieces of paper overcoming the obstacles that where in my way.