Pharmacy student scoops national essay award
6 October 2009
A Medway School of Pharmacy student showed she has the 'write stuff' to succeed in her career after winning a prize in a prestigious national essay competition.
Samantha Hayman, 22, from Maidstone, Kent, proved more than a match for other pharmacy students across the country as she landed third prize in the contest, run by the Pharmacy Law and Ethics Association. Samantha, who is studying for the Master of Pharmacy (MPharm) degree, and aims to work as a hospital pharmacist after she graduates, tackled the topic of ethics in either providing or withholding medicines for children.
She received a cheque for £250 during a recent prizewinners' ceremony held at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's London headquarters.
Medway School of Pharmacy is a unique collaboration between the University of Greenwich and the University of Kent and is based at the institutions' shared Chatham Maritime campus.
The student said she was delighted with her success. 'Both the teaching I've received here and the structure of the course have been first class, and so I feel this recognition is also for the School, and for my tutors,' she said.
Dr Ruth Rodgers, Senior Lecturer in Pharmacy Practice, said Samantha's achievement was all the more impressive since she entered the competition during her exam revision time earlier this year. 'Samantha showed great spirit and initiative in putting her entry forward. To gain such recognition from the Pharmacy Law and Ethics Association while only in her second year at Medway is a stunning achievement, as Samantha was competing against longer-established schools than ours, and against students with greater experience,' Dr Rodgers said.
Medway School of Pharmacy celebrated more success this year when it topped the table of higher education institutions in the National Student Survey.
Ninety seven percent of its final-year undergraduates said that that they were 'satisfied or very satisfied' with their education, meaning that students rated their education as the very best in the country.
Medway School of Pharmacy opened its doors to its first 80 students in 2004. Today it has more than 550 undergraduate and 100 postgraduate students, and runs a range of degree programmes for healthcare professionals.
