By Ashlyn Crocker

When Jenna Oliver of Fremont embarked on her journey at Lenoir Community College in the Fall of 2020, the path ahead of her remained unclear. Little did she know this experience was just the beginning of her academic success.

The 23-year-old has recently been accepted into UNC Chapel Hill’s Eshelman School of Pharmacy; a school consistently rated as the top pharmacy school in the country. 

 “I graduated from high school in 2020 during Covid-19. I knew I wanted to play volleyball and a lot of the bigger schools were not allowing their students to play volleyball at the time, but LCC was,” says Oliver. Although volleyball initially motivated her to enroll, she quickly realized that the nurturing environment at LCC facilitated her growth into the hardworking student she is today.

Oliver always knew that she had a desire to go into the medical field but was unsure which direction to take it at the time. Pursuing her associate in science degree ultimately propelled her towards her future goals. “I knew that in order to start getting the credits that I needed to apply for pharmacy school, I would need an associate in science and would need to take all the science courses that I possibly could,” says Oliver.

“I graduated from LCC in 2022 with both my associate in science and my associate in art (degrees),” she says. “Along with volleyball, I was also involved in Phi Theta Kappa. I really enjoyed the small class sizes, and I loved my chemistry teacher. She was extremely helpful in everything that I did during my time there.” 

LCC Chemistry Instructor Jocelyn Walsh praised Oliver’s academic achievements. “I always knew that Jenna would achieve great things! She is such a strong minded and hardworking student who deserves the success she’s earned.” 

With her mother being a pharmacist, Oliver was exposed to this career path at a young age. “I did not want to be a pharmacist at first because I felt like I wanted to create my own path,” she says. “As I got older and my family started to take care of my grandparents, I noticed that a lot of elderly people don’t have an understanding of the medications they are taking. They don't understand what it’s for, why it’s important, or why it’s helpful to them. Seeing this showed me that the world needs to have more pharmacists who don’t mind advocating and telling people in depth why they are taking a certain medication and why it’s important.”

Oliver recognizes the potential impact she could make in this field, and she devotes herself to achieving the goals that she sets for herself along the way. “My main goal is to work in a hospital as a pharmacist, I would love to work as an ER pharmacist,” she says. “But at the end of the day, I just want to do something where I can advocate and let people know why being educated on the medications you take is so important.”

In her journey towards academic achievement and personal growth, Oliver’s reflection on her time at LCC highlights the importance of determination and perseverance. “It taught me how to work hard and not give up on what I need to accomplish. While my classes were hard and I could have easily just given up, I was able to ask for help and remain focused. My time at LCC taught me the importance of hard work and dedication and being on the volleyball team taught me how to work as a team.”

In the journey towards achieving her goals, Oliver’s unwavering determination shines through in her simple yet powerful advice to future students, "Never give up. It may be hard, but at the end of the day it’s worth it looking back.”

For more information on transfer opportunities, please contact Alex Ranieri at (252) 527-6223, ext. 936 or email apranieri16@lenoircc.edu.