New pharmacy tech program provides opportunities to students
Students at the David H. Ponitz Career Technology Center, part of Dayton Public Schools, will have access to a new program this year. The new pharmacy technician program will allow students who complete it to come out with an Ohio State Board of Pharmacy Certified Pharmacy Technician (ExCPT) certificate, qualifying them to work in any pharmacy in the state of Ohio.
“It is really neat to me that our students get hands-on experience and can graduate high school already qualified for entry-level jobs in their field when they enroll in one of our CTE pathways,” says Alexandra Kincaid, director of the public information office for Dayton Public Schools.
Pharmacy tech allows students to explore a wide range of pharmaceutical principles, career concepts and skills needed to successfully step into pharmacy technician jobs. Students will learn to read, interpret and dispense prescriptions, along with how medications are classified and administered. Students also will study the impact pharmaceutical drugs have on different systems of the body, how drugs can interact, side effects and effectiveness in relation to dosages.
The program is taught by Janice Robinson, who is a certified pharmacy tech. It is a three-year program that requires students to take health science technology their sophomore year, medical terminology and human anatomy and physiology their junior year, and pharmacology their senior year.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the demand for pharmacy techs will only increase over the next decade, with a projected 44,900 pharmacy tech positions being created each year in the U.S.
Michelle Rammel, director of Career Technical Education (CTE), says, “Currently, Ponitz is the only school in the Dayton Public School system to offer the Pharmacy Tech program. However, we have other health science programs in the district.”
CTE programs are designed to prepare youth in the Dayton district for a broad range of employment and training services offered under the guidance of certified teachers, counselors and cooperative education coordinators.
The application process, like all CTE programs, includes an online application for incoming ninth and 10th graders. This application opens in late November of this year for the upcoming 2024-2025 school year. First-round acceptance letters go out in January with acceptance letters going out about every two weeks until programs are full. Programs with more applicants than available seats revert to a lottery system to determine who receives an acceptance letter.
No prior experience is required to enter the program. “Career-tech supplies students with all the skills they need to be successful in the programs and after they graduate,” says Rammel.
