![Catherine Borella](/sites/default/files/styles/max_width_480px/public/spotlight/catherine_borella.jpg?itok=wdg99HdT)
Choosing chemistry as my major in undergrad was one of the best yet most difficult decisions I have ever made. I knew going into my freshman year at UNH I wanted to someday attend pharmacy school and become a pharmacist. With that being my ultimate goal, I could have chosen many majors, that could have taken the academic burden off also taking the required prerequisites for pharmacy school admissions. General chemistry was a struggle for me, but at the closing of second semester, I said to myself "If I can survive organic chemistry, the most feared class in the entire university, I can complete the degree." And after a year and half with an excellent, but now retired professor, I survived, and went on to complete the last two years of my degree. It continued to be a struggle, but I knew I could do it. Today, I am having the same feelings about attending Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in Worcester, MA in the fall of 2017. I recognize that there will be challenges, but the love for challenges and abstract learning is what made me the student I am today.
In my time at UNH, I was a member of the UNH Synchronized Figure Skating Team, which practiced and competed all year round. My last two years as a student I also joined a second Synchronized Skating team in Boxborough, MA and was commuting at least once weekly to practice. I worked at Walgreens in Lee, NH as a pharmacy technician. Currently, I continue to work for Walgreens, in Massachusetts. I will be preparing for my next three years at MCPHS where I will get my PharmD, and someday soon help the community in a whole new way, as a healthcare professional. In the future, I plan to give back to the UNH community, and hope to inspire the upcoming freshman to not give up on their dreams.