WHAT was supposed to take Hubert Henry four years took him eight. He began the School of Pharmacy at the University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech) in 2014 but after he failed a prerequisite course three consecutive times he gave up on his dream to become a chemist.

But he was convinced to try again, and though he was beset by financial challenges he now has a Bachelor of Pharmacy degree.

Henry enrolled in UTech after finishing sixth form at Meadowbrook High School, and while the first semester went well, things started to go downhill in semester two when he was confronted by pharmaceutical calculation. He had no idea then that many before him had failed the dreaded course.

“I thought it was an easy course, a course that you could just guh suh and pass — boom bang. But I remember my first in-course test I didn’t know anything; I sat in the lecture theatre and couldn’t answer not one question,” the 29-year-old Henry recalled.

The Castle Spring native was determined to pass the course and so he decided to do a resit, but he failed miserably the second time. The third attempt, he said, yielded the same result — another failure.

By that time Henry was swimming deep in depression, plagued by anxiety and insomnia. He was summoned to consultations with the head of the School of Pharmacy, and other lecturers, to determine his fate as he was way behind.

Pharmaceutical calculation, at the time, was a course needed to do pharmaceutics 1 & 2 laboratory in which students were expected to compute dosage forms such as capsules, so failing three times would mean he could not transition to the labs and his peers would be a year ahead of him.

His worry of being left behind was compounded by naysayers in his class. After his repeated failure to master the course several of them told him he should throw in the towel.

“They told me pharmacy was not for me!” a sulky Henry recalled.

Self-doubt set in and he took a one-semester leave of absence.

It grew into two years.

During that time Henry picked up odd jobs: He worked in the BPO sector for a year and at one point he was a receptionist at a doctor’s office.

“I was angry with God and questioned why he allowed something like this to happen to me. I felt very low and I would worry a lot,” he said of those two years.

Then a phone call in 2017 changed his life.

In confirming an appointment with the doctor’s office where he was working Henry found himself speaking with the former programme director of the School of Pharmacy. She was now the head of department.

“Hubert Henry?” she questioned over the phone, seemingly shocked. “You don’t plan to finish pharmacy school?”

She suggested that January 2018 would be a good time to resume. Ironically that was also the year his former batchmates were graduating.

Henry took up the challenge — after all, pharmacy was his passion. While on a break from school he had tried physiotherapy and information technology courses, but none came close. Determined to succeed the second time around, he did not let the fact that he had no money to cover tuition fees stop him. He applied for a student loan but was turned down because he had failed to “follow through with my contract from 2014”.

Henry said being a “crazy faith” person he sought other avenues to finance his education.

“At one point in time I had to sell colognes and my chest of draw,” he recalled with a self-deprecating smirk.

Resuming the programme was not a bed of roses but he was determined to push on despite the odds.

“There were a lot of bad days, struggling days, a lot of nights of crying, but I kept my eyes on my goals,” he shared.

For those now facing similar struggles with self-doubt and financial challenges, Henry hopes they will be inspired by how he made his way through some of the darkest days of his life.

“Believe in yourselves; seek out ways and avenues to get help. Be determined, focused; and each time you fall down, get back up because at the end of the day, failure is not final,” he encouraged.

“I was always telling myself that I am going to achieve this [degree]. I must accomplish this,” he said.

And that is exactly what he did. Henry recently graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy and is currently on an externship where he has fallen in love with patient counselling.

He is excited about his career path and happy he did not give up on his dream.