Act I: The Stage Goes Dark
It happened during the last run of a long day’s rehearsal. 吉安娜·弗兰科(Gianna Franco)当时在曼哈顿的天才无限高中(Talent Unlimited High School)读11年级，是保罗·泰勒舞蹈团(Paul Taylor Dance Company)青少年合奏团的一员. 作为一名追求自己职业的天才，她从未想过下一步该怎么走.
After some 15 years of dancing, she flowed through each move. 未来? She would dance perhaps another 15 years, as long as she could, then pivot as mature dancers do to a related field, 教学或许. What else was there?
“舞蹈是唯一让我感到自信的东西，”弗兰科说. “我对艺术的热爱在于能够放下一切，只是去感受. It was a really freeing experience.”
弗朗哥的母亲也跳过舞，但他记不起她是什么时候开始跳的. Dance was part of her life before her earliest memories.
It turned into “something serious” in middle school. By high school, she spent long days at her craft. Her classes included dance, 还有数学, 英语, social studies and chemistry; once the school day ended, 与专业剧团的排练经常持续到深夜.
在她大三快结束的那个晚上，他们正在排练保罗·泰勒的舞蹈，名叫 散步路. 佛朗哥已经“疯狂地爱上”了泰勒的编舞——从跑步到地铁等行人动作的运动感和美感的创造.
她是全女性合奏团的一员，表演的角色既适合女性，也适合男性, including over-the-head lifts and other feats of strength. 他们正在排练一系列动作，包括弗兰科从巨大的泰勒舞台的后角跑到前角，然后跳进其他舞者的怀里.
“I’m running full speed,”她说。. “我跳. I get partly caught. 然后当我的搭档转过身来放我走的时候，我有点挣扎. I slide a couple of feet and I end up hitting the wall.”
一开始，由于肾上腺素在她体内循环，她认为自己没事. But she could not stand on her left leg. Her left kneecap had shifted. 几个月的物理治疗还不足以让她回到舞池. 那时不会，永远不会. 她的医生说她再也无法承受职业舞蹈的活力了.
“The only thing I can compare it to is darkness,佛朗哥说. “Dancing was the one time when I felt like I was enough. Having that taken away really made me question everything.”
Act II: An Unlikely Source of Light
佛朗哥在史坦顿岛一家24小时营业的超级药店度过了很长一段时间, 她长大的地方. 当然，她需要治疗疼痛，也需要治疗抑郁和焦虑. 她正在接受治疗，治疗因摔倒造成的身体和精神伤害.
在超市里，她遇到了一位名叫劳伦的药剂师，当时她30岁出头. The first time Franco went in to pick up her medications, Lauren brought her into the counseling room for a half hour. Franco still remembers it with some astonishment, 因为店里很热闹，也许还有另外一个药剂师在那里.
在最初的治疗之后，劳伦每周都给弗兰科打电话，询问情况. 佛朗哥经历了不同的药物和剂量来对抗各种副作用, 劳伦询问了弗兰科的疼痛程度和情绪，以及她对药物效果的感受. At some point in Franco’s senior year, 他们的关系变得非常紧密，劳伦开始问弗兰科一些私人问题. 她是谁?? What were her plans? Franco told Lauren her story.
“It was like a trauma dump,佛朗哥说. “I just felt so safe with her. She was such a light.”
After listening, Lauren asked, “Have you ever considered pharmacy?”
Franco dismissed her. Despite her relationship with Lauren, Franco saw pharmacists as pill counters – and that wasn’t for her. “I wanted to bring joy to people, I wanted to perform,”她说。. 但后来她的母亲告诉她，她曾经是一名药房技术员, and that Franco had several relatives who were pharmacists. Surprised, Franco kept the idea on her mind’s back burner. She even shadowed Lauren on the job.
Out for coffee one day, 佛朗哥和她的药剂师朋友劳伦讨论了药剂师可以扮演的各种角色——他们参与医院的病人护理, 例如, and conduct research for drug manufacturers. 佛朗哥开始认为药剂学是一个充满无限可能性的领域. 然后有天晚上和她妈妈一起看《全球十大赌博靠谱的平台》, 她对在精神病院与病人打交道产生了兴趣.
“你仍然可以给人们带来快乐，”弗兰科记得劳伦对她说. “You’re going to help them feel better. You’re going to help them heal.”
Act III: A Mix-up, then a New Start
So Franco decided to pursue pharmacy. 但是她还没有完成高中高年级学生要被大学录取必须完成的所有事情——申请, 校园参观, 面试. 她行动迅速，每个周末安排了几次巡演，连续安排了三个周末. The last place on her schedule was the pharmacy school in Albany.
她来到这里的时候，纽约北部的天气可以说是最糟糕的——春泥季节的中心是一个下雨天——她花了将近三个小时参观了一个大校园，等待她来参观的景点. 旅行结束后，她又累又沮丧，终于问起了药学院. Her tour guides, at the University at Albany, were flummoxed. You mean Albany College of Pharmacy and 健康科学? That’s not us, they told her.
Franco quickly called ACPHS and reached Kelly Quinn, 谁现在是高级副注册主任，但当时在招生办公室工作. 那天校园里有某种活动——也许是一个开放的房子——但它已经结束了. 佛朗哥发疯了. Quinn told her to take a deep breath; come to ACPHS anyway; Quinn would wait for her.
Despite all the tours Franco had just taken, Quinn was the first admissions counselor she met face to face. And something just clicked.
“她立刻让我想起了劳伦——就像那样，”弗兰科说.
Then Quinn did something that Franco found extraordinary. She spent time with her – and did not try to sell her on ACPHS. Just like Lauren, Quinn counseled Franco about her future. 为什么药店? What did she see herself doing in five years, in ten years? To Franco’s surprise, 对未来的思考让她清楚地意识到，药房是适合她的领域.
“I got kind of giddy for the first time in forever,佛朗哥说.
Franco left saying she would come back for a real tour. But she didn’t need to. She applied to ACPHS, determined to enroll.
“I felt safe and I felt comfortable and I felt excited, and I hadn’t felt that way in months,佛朗哥说.
Act IV: Fluid Movement, Again
She was indeed accepted into the pharmacy doctoral program. 她说，她艰难地度过了头两年严格的课堂和实验室教学. 怀疑起来. She had never had to read textbooks and take good notes before; she credits her roommate Katy Carron ’22 for showing her how.
她的可取之处是每隔一个周末和劳伦一起在斯塔顿岛的药房工作.
“That is where I decided I was doing the right thing,佛朗哥说. “每次我要处理保险索赔时，我们都认为这行不通, that made me feel really good, like I was on the right path.”
在她从事药学专业的几年里，事情开始走到一起. She loved the skills training – calculations, interpreting prescribers’ orders, understanding over-the-counter drugs, the hands-on experiences that felt like a real pharmacy.
Her movements became fluid again. Just as with a Paul Taylor dance, the ordinary felt extraordinary.
“I learned that I love counseling patients,佛朗哥说. “I love having that interaction.”
今年春天, Franco was accepted into a competitive residency program, at Monmouth Medical Center in New Jersey, 她将在5月份获得药学博士学位后开始这项工作. 她希望之后能完成第二年的住院医师培训，专攻法医药学, 处理诉讼和刑事司法系统的精神病学专业.
When she looks back, Franco thinks Lauren, 奎因和她的室友卡伦都是她最重要的编舞家.
“那些在我生命的关键时刻出现的人真的是在引导我——他们在那里转弯, 继续, 现在好了, 这种方式,”她说。.
“I feel like I’m dancing again, even though I can’t.”
