BC Senior Heading to Pharmacy School
Bluefield College senior Lexi Sturgell will be leaving BC and the place she’s called home all of her life this spring to pursue her dream of becoming a pharmacist.
A BC pre-pharmacy major, Sturgell grew up in the Town of Bluefield and graduated from Graham High School in 2016. That same year, she started her freshman classes at Bluefield College, and now as part of a transfer program she will be attending the Appalachian School of Pharmacy in Oakwood, Virginia, this fall.
A member of the BC Honors Program, Sturgell said she decided to come to Bluefield College because of the scholarship opportunities. She said she also liked the fact that the school had a transfer agreement with the Appalachian School of Pharmacy.
“It’s a lot of work, but it will be worth it in the end,” said Sturgell about her three years of preparation at BC for pharmacy school.
Under the guidelines of Bluefield College’s transfer agreement with the Appalachian School of Pharmacy, Sturgell will leave BC after three years with an associate’s degree. Once she earns her doctorate in three years from the pharmacy school, she will also receive her bachelor’s degree from BC.
Outside of the classroom, Sturgell has gained valuable experience working at Walmart Pharmacy in Bluefield — experience, she said, that will help her when she begins her pharmacy studies this fall. Interacting with the public and learning the different types of medicines, she said, has been very beneficial.
“I have been working at the pharmacy for about three years now,” Sturgell said. “I started off as a cashier, then I got into the tech training program, and I got my technician license this past July.”
Sturgell will be moving to Grundy, Virginia, this summer where she will start her classes the following month.
“I will be there for three years, and then I will hopefully do a residency program to where I can become a clinical pharmacist,” she said.
Sturgell is also interested in potentially doing some research in her field. Pharmacogenetics, she said, interests her the most because it is a very specific line of work.
“You can basically get someone’s genetic mapping, look at the chemical compositions, and determine what medicines will actually help them,” said Sturgell about pharmacogenetics.
She said this is great because too often patients have to go through trial and error procedures. Pharmacogenetics, she said, could prevent that. For example, there are a lot of blood pressure and cholesterol medicines to choose from. This research allows patients to receive the correct type of medicine they need to specifically treat their condition.
When asked about her favorite part of her Bluefield College experience, Sturgell said she has liked “being friends with others that are not in my major.”
She appreciates having friends that study fields like music and teaching because it gives her a different outlook on others’ college experience.