Walgreens program shows students the pharmaceutical ropes

ST. LOUIS Walgreens is letting high school students spend four weeks working as pharmacists.

It’s not for real, so customers at the stores shouldn’t expect kids too young to drive to fill their prescriptions, but the chain is working with the St. Louis College of Pharmacy to let the students learn about the profession as part of the Career Explorers Program.

Their job is to fill prescriptions for imaginary customers, such as Mickey Mouse, but it’s not all just for fun.

As the population ages, pharmacists are in high demand. The Pharmacy Manpower Project has created the aggregate demand index, which lists demand for pharmacists at 4.07, indicating moderate demand and difficulty filling some positions.

According to the American Pharmaceutical Association, there are 112,000 pharmacists working in community pharmacies, 40,000 in hospital pharmacies and 21,000 in other areas.