MU| F e a t u r e s
trips to the outdoor mall at Jefferson Pointe
and Sweetwater Music Center. It means
the Three Rivers Festival in the summer.
And, to the degree the Pharmacy Program’s
demanding curriculum allows, it means
experiencing a community that puts an
emphasis on inclusion.
Just ask Parth Patel about that.
Born in India, he moved to the U.S. when he
was 8, and he’s seen a lot of it since. He has
moved multiple times in the first 15 years
he was in America, hotel rooms frequently
subbing for home and hearth. Eventually he
landed in Bloomington with his older brother,
who was his legal guardian and attended
Butler University for pharmacy.
It was his brother’s influence that got
Parth thinking about pharmacy school, and
Manchester’s proximity to Indianapolis that
put MU on his radar.
Having lived in Indiana for a while, he knew
Fort Wayne was the state’s second-largest city.
He knew a few other things about it. The rest
...
Well, the rest has been a series of mostly
pleasant discoveries.
“There’s like this Midwestern mentality that
a lot of people have (of) just being nice to
everyone,” Patel says. “Just saying thank you,
even if you don’t see the person. Or you
might not even know the person and they
stop for you to cross the street and say thank
you. They’re super-nice to you. Everyone
holds doors for everyone.”
That sense of community, of commonality,
dovetails neatly with the collegial relationship
among MU pharmacy students. The demands
of school both bind them and send them off
to find ways to relax, of which Fort Wayne
has many.
Patel and his friends unwind by playing pool
and billiards at The Corner Pocket on St. Joe
Road. And to relieve the stress of weekly
exams, a group of second-year pharmacy
students – men and women, from Indiana and
Michigan and New York and points elsewhere
– rent a court at Spiece Fieldhouse and other
locations to play basketball each week.
“When we first came to Fort Wayne, a lot of
us barely knew each other, so we all got along
over sports,” Patel says. “It’s not like a big city
mentality here, where you have to go to a club
or a huge popular place to have fun. You can
have fun anywhere with your friends.”
Another part of Fort Wayne’s charm. And,
perhaps, the secret to its allure.
By Benjamin Smith
14 |
Enjoying Manchester Night (left) and a
TinCaps game at Parkview Field are (from
left) Stacy Erickson-Pesetski, associate
dean for academic affairs and associate
professor of English; her husband Jason
Pesetski; and Heather Schilling ’90,
professor of education. Below left a
children’s marching band performs at
Fort Wayne’s Johnny Appleseed Festival
and, below, the “Back in Time” bike rack
at Wayne and Calhoun streets (photos
below left and below courtesy of Visit
Fort Wayne).