Spokane International Academy: Isabella Figueroa’s down-to-business attitude helps her excel
Spokane International Academy student Isabella Figueroa had a startling first day at her internship at a drugstore pharmacy.
To start, Figueroa wasn’t even supposed to be at that location, but her instructor accidentally mixed up placement with two other students. The three students decided not to switch to the correct locations, and everyone at her pharmacy was really nice, but even still, Figueroa had a weird feeling.
Toward the end of the shift, she would understand why when a man started yelling at the pharmacist for oxycodone, threatening to shoot the pharmacist .
Eventually the man left and no one was hurt, but Figueroa was shaken .
“My parents got there, so they were able to comfort me,” she said. “It was definitely a crazy experience. I tried to keep calm and not freak out, because I didn’t want to add more to the situation.”
English teacher Chad May recalls the next day at school hearing the story of the robbery from Figueroa’s brother. Figueroa herself, May said, didn’t seem all that rattled.
That down-to-business attitude seems to be a staple of Figueroa’s time as a student, with May noticing it after she transferred to the school her sophomore year. She came into Spokane International already knowing she wanted to apply to the pharmacy program at NEWTech Prep.
“Obviously a lot of high school students aren’t sure and figure it out later and that’s totally fine,” May said, “but it’s cool because she always had a really clear idea of what she wanted to do and what kind of work that would take.”
Figueroa’s interest in health care grew from watching medical professionals assist her father through his ailments.
“My big passion is helping people, and seeing the way that doctors and pharmacists and nurses have helped my family and been there has really inspired me,” she said. “I want to make people feel better, being an outlet for people to go to. Being a comforter, in a way.”
Along with her work in the NEWTech program, Figueroa is also a member of the Sacred Heart Children’s Hospital teen board which creates fundraisers to support the children receiving in-patient treatment . After working at the drugstore last year, Figueroa spent her senior year working at Sacred Heart.
“I rotate through all the different types of pharmacy, so getting to meet different people and seeing the different things you can do in the hospital, where it’s not just being a doctor and nurse,” she said.
After graduation, Figueroa plans to work as a pharmacy technician during the summer before attending Eastern Washington University or Gonzaga University to study biochemistry or biology on a premed route. She ultimately plans to become either a pharmacist or a doctor.
Thinking back on her senior year, Figueroa enjoyed the opportunity to tour colleges and will miss hanging out with friends, both fellow Spokane International Academy students and those she met at NEWTech from other schools.
She wants to give a special shout-out to her teachers and counselors, who she said deserved the spotlight. May, of course, wants to put it right back on Figueroa.
“She is a really good friend to a lot of other students, a really supportive friend in terms of being there for them and being willing to help them with school or with other things they have going on,” he said. “She’s been a really consistent presence too, she’s very involved. … There’s a lot of positive energy and involvement and activity and doing things to help the community, help the school.”