When APhA–ASP, previously the Student American Pharmaceutical Association (SAPhA), was born in 1969, it created a home for student pharmacists across the country. Student leaders and their supporters advocated for this Academy long before its birth, and voices grew over time. The Academy has become what it is today because of fearless leaders. Among those leaders are some of the most ambitious women the profession has known.

This year we celebrate not only APhA–ASP, but also the passionate people who dedicated their time to the profession. In the late 1970s, female involvement in the profession exploded. Pharmacy schools’ class sizes went from 10% to 20% women to 62.5%, as recorded by the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy in fall 2017. Along the way, female student pharmacists stepped up to the plate to show that they were leaders too, and to inspire students across the country. 

In 1998, APhA–ASP National President Jay Phipps developed the first official APhA–ASP presidential theme “Bridging Dreams to Destiny” and established a precedent that would become the defining identity for so many student pharmacists. Since then, each national president has been tasked with the same responsibility: to lay out their vision and unite student pharmacists to work together toward one goal.

As we have both served as APhA–ASP National Presidents, we know how special the themes can be. The following are our thoughts on the process, the history, and the people behind these memorable messages.

As noted elsewhere in this issue, 1981 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the organization of the first American 
Pharmaceutical Association chapters on the campuses of our schools and colleges of pharmacy. It is an appropriate time, then, both to look back at the significant achievement of our chapters since 1931 and to assess where we should be heading in the next half century.

Without a crystal ball, it is impossible to accurately predict the course the profession of pharmacy will take in the next 50 years, but there appear to be some areas of activity in which SAPhA chapters could involve themselves in the future which would both help to influence the profession’s course and help to ensure that our future practitioners are viable participants: