Allen Terry

Allen Terry says he’s not quite sure how everything has worked out the way it has, but he’s doing everything he can to become a pharmacist. And it’s not easy. A Syracuse native, he commutes daily to the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences from Fayetteville, N.Y., a Syracuse suburb.

Terry is self-deprecating, to say the least.

When asked where he sees himself after he earns his Doctor of Pharmacy, he told a story about his mom – a registered nurse – trying to buy a car with cash and being ignored by the salesmen. “My actual goal is to walk into a car dealership with cash in my pocket and say, ‘I work at Walmart,’ and hear what they say,” he said. “I’m petty. I never said I was mature. I said I was an adult and that’s different!”

His path to pharmacy comes after a downward spiral and a failed attempt at an engineering education – “I hated it and it wasn’t for me.” He said it took the birth of his son, now 3 years old, to recognize things had to change.

“There was a long time when I refused to admit I had done things wrong and needed to take responsibility for my actions,” Terry said. “But I got to the point where I wondered how I could set an example for my son.”

Together, Terry and his wife decided that he would return to school.

“I had tried once before unsuccessfully, so I tried again at Onondaga Community College (OCC) and my grades were much better than expected,” he said. “My original plan was to get an associate degree and get a job, but with my grades better than expected, my wife and I had a conversation about what I really want to do, and with full support from her, I’m making the push to be a pharmacist.”

Terry hasn’t had a break from school in about three years, including having to complete 45 credits in two semesters plus one summer at OCC and Le Moyne College.

He commutes to Binghamton’s School of Pharmacy for one main reason. His son is autistic and the services he receives in Fayetteville are the best. “He’s non-verbal and that increases the level of frustration and tantrums,” Terry said. “He can use gestures a little, but he can’t say he needs the bathroom or he’s hungry.”

So, the decision became, “Do we move him out of his comfort zone, or do I commute?” Terry said. The decision was easy – to do what’s best for his son.

“Most days are great, but sometimes I find myself leaving 20 minutes after I arrive,” he said. “Luckily, we have a full-time childcare provider who is excellent with special-needs children. She’s great.

“I wouldn’t be here this year without having found her,” Terry said.

Terry’s wife is a pharmacy tech supervisor with Walmart who hopes to return to school when he completes his education. She “kept us afloat” when Terry went through a multi-year funk. “Then we had a child and everything you think about the world changes,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to leave this child unprotected. I have a responsibility.

Terry and his wife also have an 18-month-old daughter and another child on the way. “When I’m home, the kids’ focus changes to me,” he said, and his to them until after bedtime. So he spends his commute listening to recorded lectures. “I wake up and prepare, and drive, and then I’m going to class and it’s all good. I can’t skip a class when I’m here.”

Terry likes the coursework and has his eye on the goal, but also sees his life as a student as his job. “I’m paying to be here. I’ve taken out loans. This is a job,” he said, “and I will treat it like a job, but I get strong reminders at home.

“I feel that my family was the re-centering that I needed to actually pull out my capability,” he said. “I had dug myself a gigantic hole, and I remember calling [Coulter Ward] after taking the PCAT and asking if I should even bother applying, but I had a very good PCAT score!”

Terry will be in his mid-30s when he completes his PharmD. “When I think about that with respect to what I thought I would be doing – a menial job – I wouldn’t trade that for four years of school because I’ll be a pharmacist when I’m done,” he said. “The payoff for the degree is worth it and it enables my future. It’s a chance to get an education and a fresh start.”

Terry is unsure what direction his PharmD will take him, but will take advantage of his pharmacy experiences and figure out what he will enjoy. But here at Binghamton, he has what he terms, “tons of support.”

Right now, Terry said his self-care class is what he envisioned pharmacy would be: “This is the situation, we treat it this way,” he said. “They’re doing a really good job of tying it together with the chemistry and the biology. All of those pre-recs mattered and the push I made was completely worthwhile.

“I haven’t felt, ‘Why am I here?’” he said. “I’ve been given a chance and cannot fail and will not fail. I will do what I have to, even if I have to live down here [Binghamton/Johnson City] three to four days a week in the spring.

Terry said he has operated on one question since his son was born: “How in the world am I supposed to explain to my son I have to work hard when others would say I didn’t do anything in college?

“I don’t want it to be, ‘I had you and I worked a dead-end job,” Terry said. “I was depressed for years and didn’t feel there was any way out and it was selfish, but now the right thing to do is to just be a father to my kids and take care of the family.

“I’m doing it on the long-form plan,” he said. “And everything and everyone else around me needs to assist me to pull off the plan. It’s either climb to the top of the mountain or fall into the pit.”