Taylor Mathiasen: Fostering leadership and community in Duluth

Third-year pharmacy student Taylor Mathiasen’s advice to incoming students is to “get involved early” and she certainly leads by example. 

As vice president of the Pharmacy Leadership Society, a HOPE Clinic volunteer, a Leadership Emphasis Area (LEA) student, a member of the admissions committee, a student ambassador, a lab teaching assistant, and historian and board member for the Kappa Psi Delta Psi Pharmaceutical Fraternity, there are few opportunities Mathiasen hasn’t taken advantage of. She’s also in the accelerated PharmD program, which she discovered when it was still a “hidden gem” on the Duluth campus (“I can't imagine doing it another way,” she said).

A close-knit community is important to Mathiasen, who prioritized the Duluth campus on her PharmD application partly for this reason. 

“The Duluth campus specifically has really pushed me to step out of my comfort zone, especially in leadership roles,” she said. “The campus is just very supportive and you can see that with professors and students communicating and associating with each other all the time. Duluth just gives that sense of community.”

After graduating, Mathiasen hopes to enter residency and work in an acute care setting in a rural community. She admires the preceptors and mentors she’s met on rotation who have offered her advice and answered her questions and said she would “love to be that for future students coming through pharmacy school.” 

She’s already starting down that path with her LEA project (starting with the following cohort, certain learning experiences within the LEA program are transitioning into the MNspire curriculum to give future students continued access to explore leadership opportunities), through which she created shadowing days for prospective pharmacy students. Potential students come to the Duluth campus for a few hours to shadow each PharmD cohort, meet with the admissions team to talk over the application process and details of the program, and join for Duluth’s “Pizza Friday” if they wish. Mathiasen said she knows of at least one prospective student who traveled from the Twin Cities campus and Brainerd, MN, for the shadowing day.    

“There are opportunities to hear from current students, for them to sit in on lectures and see that sense of community in the classroom, which is super important to see what a day in the life of a pharmacy student looks like,” she said. “I think that will be very beneficial in the future, especially for recruitment on the Duluth campus.”

Mathiasen’s time helping out with recruiting and admissions has also taught her how to be a better applicant, which could prove helpful when she applies for residency. But that aside, it’s something she simply enjoys doing. Applying to pharmacy school can be “super overwhelming,” she said, which is why she advises getting involved early to build community and supportive networks. Mathiansen said her cohort, the class of 2027, convenes often outside of courses and student organizations by attending conferences and community events together. Their cohort has a unique closeness, she said, as the first cohort to experience the college’s MNspire curriculum.   

“We've gone through all these changes the last three years together, that’s why we're so close-knit…our class is amazing, and very supportive.” Mathiasen said. “It's been super fun to go to school with them the last three years. It goes by fast, so definitely don't take it for granted. Even during stressful times, just know that you're going to appreciate everything later.”