Life-changing Fund for Pharmacy student
The Hope Winch Benevolence Fund provided Pharmacy student Shauna Barry the necessary financial support that allowed her to focus on her studies.
The money that Shauna received from the scholarship went towards helping her pay for living expenses, allowing her to reduce her working hours and giving her more time to study and volunteer in a community pharmacy which led her to secure a job with them.
Shauna, 23, from Ireland, was juggling her MPharm course with a part-time job and a volunteering position in a local pharmacy. Feeling exhausted and run down, Shauna had an accident in which she broke her foot and was told she should rest for six weeks.
“The first thought that crossed my mind was that I was going to lose my bar job if I couldn’t work. So I worked on a broken foot for the next six weeks against the advice of my doctor,” she explained.
It was then when her concerned classmates encouraged her to apply for the Hope Winch Benevolence Scholarship, which allowed her to give up her part-time job at the bar whilst keeping her Saturday morning volunteering job.
She also had more time to study and passed all her exams, including Law, OSCEs and Dispensing.
The student said: “Before I received the scholarship I was under significant financial strain. My financial strategy was to work as much as possible all summer to save for the upcoming year and work as much as possible throughout the year to keep myself afloat. I worked on average 20-30 hours a week between Friday evening after my classes and late Sunday night in a bar in town. The job had me up until 3 or 4am some nights.”
She concluded: “I am so incredibly relieved and thankful for what the scholarship has granted me, it was truly life-changing. Having more time to volunteer led me to a job I love that is providing invaluable experience in community pharmacy.”