Scholar Stories: Donan Uses Childhood Interests to Find Career Path in Pharmacy
2/14/2024 11:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming & Diving, Features
Continuing the series that began in 2016-17, each Wednesday MGoBlue.com will highlight a Michigan student-athlete and their academic pursuits. These are our Scholar-Athlete Stories, presented by Absopure.
By Mya Fromwiller
Claire Donan, a senior on the University of Michigan women's swim team, looks back fondly on her early days in the sport. She started competitive swimming at age 12 and although that was later than many other girls in her hometown of Louisville, Ky., she quickly found success.
"I started as the slowest on the team," she said, laughing. "I told my coach I didn't have any endurance and she said, 'We'll work on that.' She saw something in me."
At first, she enjoyed swimming because it was a place where she felt safe and had a strong community, regardless of her times. However, she progressed in the sport extremely fast and by age 15, she was competing at junior national meets with a consistent place in the top-20 of her age group. She eventually had the fastest time in her age group for the 100-yard breaststroke and soon she started gaining attention from schools all over the country.
Competing at that level motivated her to swim at the collegiate level and by her junior year, she had to start making decisions on which school she wanted to continue her academic and athletic career. Since she grew up in Kentucky, Donan always imagined herself attending college in the south. However, after evaluating and comparing the characteristics she wanted in a college, Michigan came out on top.
The moment she made that decision is one she will always remember. She recalls looking at a Michigan swimming poster on her bed while trying to decide which school to commit to and feeling an overwhelming sense of peace.
"It felt like it was the place I needed to be," Donan said. "I went downstairs and told my family, 'It's Michigan.'"
Her journey at Michigan started as both a virtual year and a year coming off an injury and although that brought challenges, Donan has been able to find a close community through the swim team.
"They bring out the best in you. When practice is hard, they're there," she said. "They make you laugh. They cool you down."
As her final year on the team comes to a close, she is especially grateful for her teammates' support throughout her time at Michigan.
"I've become more and more appreciative of them this year now that it's my last year," Donan said. "You take it for granted until you only have six months left with these people you love so much."
Donan has had an excellent collegiate swim career, qualifying for the Big Ten Championships three times, and the NCAA Championships in 2021. She also has achieved a high level of success in her academics, proving she was truly able to excel as a student-athlete.
She will graduate this year with a bachelor of science in Pharmaceutical Sciences through the College of Pharmacy and will continue her education at Michigan in the fall as she begins her Doctor of Pharmacy degree. After completing her PharmD, she will complete a two-year residency and will pick her specialization during that second year where she will have a variety of paths to choose from. Although she has been working in community pharmacy since 2022, she intends to go into hospital pharmacy and is excited to experience a different side of the pharmaceutical industry.
While Donan's path to Pharmacy was not linear, she feels confident in her chosen path and is excited to continue her education in the fall. She comes from a family of engineers and wanted to be the first female engineer in her family. She decided to begin her journey at Michigan as an engineering major. Donan always had a strong interest in the medical field but knew she did not want to be a doctor, so she thought biomedical engineering was the best path for her.
However, a combination of virtual classes and lack of interpersonal classwork made her want to explore other major choices and she soon discovered that U-M offered a bachelor of science in Pharmacy. She has been pursuing that degree ever since and feels extremely content with her choice. It allowed her to rediscover her passion for learning, and she feels that this major works well with the way that she learns.
Donan's experience switching majors leads her to give the following advice to other students thinking about exploring other paths.
"You don't have to know what you're doing. We're so young and there's so much time to figure out what you want to do," she said "Look back to the things that you enjoyed when you were a kid and see how you can connect that to who you are now."
This is advice that Donan has followed herself, as she has always shown a strong interest in the medical field. Her grandmother was an ER nurse and she often spent time in the hospital with her sister who has Rasmussen's encephalitis. These experiences made her extremely empathetic to both medical workers and patients and have driven her passion for the medical field. After completing her PharmD and residency, she hopes to be an advocate for the patients that she works with and ensure that they get the care that they deserve.
Although the path to working in Pharmacy is not easy, Donan has shown her ability to succeed in anything she sets her mind to. As her time as an undergraduate student comes to an end, she has some advice to offer current and prospective student athletes. She advises student-athletes to be patient with themselves and let go of the desire to be perfect all the time.
"You're not always going to be in the situation to do the best in every class and that's OK," Donan said "Sometimes you will be taking multiple hard classes at one time and you just have to try your best. Realize where your strengths are and try your best in your weaker areas.
"It's hard as an athlete to not want to be perfect, but be patient with yourself."
Players Mentioned
