{"id":478521,"date":"2026-10-27T21:00:26","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T21:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/478521\/"},"modified":"2026-10-27T21:00:26","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T21:00:26","slug":"utep-school-of-pharmacy-volunteers-adopt-rio-grande-avenue-for-first-cleanup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/478521\/","title":{"rendered":"UTEP School of Pharmacy volunteers adopt Rio Grande Avenue for first cleanup"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14\/CBS4) \u2014 Students, faculty and staff from the UTEP School of Pharmacy picked up litter along Rio Grande Avenue Tuesday as part of the school\u2019s first Adopt-A-Street cleanup.<\/p>\n<p>About 25 to 30 volunteers took part in the cleanup, which began at 8 a.m. near Virginia Street and Rio Grande Avenue. <\/p>\n<p>The event was part of Community Partner Day during Pharmacy Week, an annual observance recognizing pharmacists and their work in the community.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Amanda Loya, a clinical professor and associate dean for community and clinical programs, said the effort was a way for the school to thank its neighbors and help beautify the area.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe wanted to make sure that not only the school looks great, but the neighborhood looks great,\u201d said Lorenzo Rodriguez, a first-year pharmacy student and Navy veteran.<\/p>\n<p>Rodriguez said he chose pharmacy after serving eight years as a hospital corpsman and seeing patients struggle to take medications as prescribed. <\/p>\n<p>RECOMMENDED: <a href=\"https:\/\/kfoxtv.com\/news\/local\/space-tech-el-paso-2026-to-bring-nasa-space-force-and-industry-leaders-to-borderplex?src=link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Space Tech El Paso 2026 to bring NASA, Space Force and industry leaders to Borderplex<\/a><\/p>\n<p>He plans to return to El Paso after graduation and provide patient-centered care to the community where he was raised. He was born in Ciudad Ju\u00e1rez.<\/p>\n<p>Loya said the school\u2019s four-year Doctor of Pharmacy program is helping address the region\u2019s need for more pharmacists. <\/p>\n<p>The program graduated its first class in 2021 and has since graduated six classes.<\/p>\n<p>Pharmacists are among the most accessible health care professionals, Loya said, and play an important role in patients\u2019 health and wellness. <\/p>\n<p>The school also emphasizes Spanish-language and cultural training to prepare students to serve the region\u2019s Spanish-speaking community.<\/p>\n<p>Loya encouraged people interested in pharmacy to contact the school and learn more about the career. She also urged residents to thank their local pharmacists during Pharmacy Month.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/kfoxtv.com\/sign-up\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Sign up<\/a> to receive the top interesting stories from in and around our community once daily in your inbox.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14\/CBS4) \u2014 Students, faculty and staff from the UTEP School of Pharmacy picked up litter&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":478522,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[138,140,139],"class_list":["post-478521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-el-paso","tag-el-paso","tag-el-paso-headlines","tag-el-paso-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=478521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478521\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}