Proud of education
Proud of education
I was compelled to take a break from studying for finals to write this letter in response to the article “Pharmacy school earns low marks,” written by Colin M. Stewart and published in the Hawaii Tribune Herald.
I am a third-year pharmacy student at the UH-Hilo College of Pharmacy, and I wanted to point out an important point Mr. Stewart did not include in his article. The passage rate he quotes is the rate of students who pass on the first attempt. So, the actual rate of passage is in fact higher, as students have passed on the next attempt.
Also, 104 schools of pharmacy reported their passage rates, but there are 127 schools of pharmacy in the country that will be offering the doctor of pharmacy degree as of January 2012. Of that first class, many of those graduates went on to further their education and skill by going through a pharmacy residency.
These programs, akin to residencies that physicians go through, are extremely competitive programs, and our graduates did extremely well in securing spots in very well-known and rigorous programs. This is a testament to the caliber of the education at the College of Pharmacy.
I feel that Mr. Stewart’s article is premature. It would be better to wait for a few years to see where that initial passage rate goes. In fact, it would be more beneficial for the Tribune-Herald to focus its energy on the many accomplishments the College of Pharmacy has achieved both locally and nationally.
I am a student and soon-to-be graduate of the College of Pharmacy. I am a resident of Hawaii who was educated first on the mainland, but chose to come back to Hawaii to further my education. I could have chosen to go to any of the other 126 colleges of pharmacy in the country, but I chose UH-Hilo and have never once regretted that decision.
Chris Lai Hipp
Hilo
It’s not over yet
On Sunday, May 13, an article appeared in the Tribune-Herald titled, “Lingle, Djou rally state Republicans.” The article stated that former Gov. Linda Lingle was seeking the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Daniel Akaka and she would be running against Democratic U.S. Rep. Mazie Hirono.
I find it quite interesting that the Democratic primary between Ed Case and Mazie Hirono has not even been held, but the Tribune-Herald seems to already know that Hirono will be the winner of that primary and that she will be the candidate running against Lingle. In fact, Ed Case, former U.S. House of Representative member, may be a front-runner in the August primary and — based on his efforts, popularity and strong abilities — could well be the Democratic challenger to Linda Lingle.
One wonders if the old guard Democratic Party is so self assured that they can predict the winner of elections even three months prior to the actual event even though elections are held in order to let the people choose.
Carolyn Blankfield
Hilo