Community service has always been something I’ve felt good about doing, whether it was in high school, college, or now with my current crop of students through the formation of Builders Club. That being said, some of the best relationships develop out of doing community service together. One strikes me as particularly beneficial, whose name is Andy Phan. Despite our age differences, we systematically have common beliefs and values on a variety of different topics, which has allowed to friendship to continue long after my involvement in CSUF’s Circle K.
After I graduated UCSD and enrolled in CSUF’s credential program (doing pre-reqs first of course), I made the conscious decision to join Circle K to attempt to make new friends. I was able to develop “The Quack Pack”, an inter-clique within the organization, which contained 5 members. Ironically enough, at the time Andy was probably the person I was the least close to in that group, but over the years, he has remained the one I remain in weekly contact with (in comparison to the others). Our friendship progressed over the course of that year through a variety of different activities which included…. sleepovers, karaoke, boardgames, socials, drinking, food, and of course volunteering. We surely fulfilled the dumb tenants of service, leadership, and “fellowship”.
The thing that pretty much guaranteed we would remain friends is one particular night of fond remembrance where several of us were quite intoxicated after drinking at a karaoke place. He made sure to stick around (as designated driver), and to make sure all of us got home safety. As crazy and ridiculous as we were at the time, and as easy as it would have been for him to just leave, he were committed to staying, and for that, I am immediately grateful.
Long after we both left Circle K for different reasons (me because I didn’t get PR Chair), and you because you got over the drama, we still have maintained contact with one another. And I’m glad, because we will continue to make Phil’s runs in the future, continue to be the support system we both need in order to get through sometimes the loneliest of days, and continue to push one another to be the best that we can be.
Thank you for all the memories. We will make new ones in the future. Congrats and good luck in pharmacy school. #26reasonswhy
