Sunny Brown Scholarship winner Ryan Armetta. (Special to the American Press)

The Sunny Brown Scholarship is awarded annually to a DeRidder High School graduate who demonstrates superior scholarship and service to the school and community. This year’s recipient is Ryan Armetta.

Armetta was ecstatic when he found out he had won the scholarship.

“I’m going to be in college for seven years so the money was very needed and when I heard my name I was like wow, because I know there are a lot of students in my class that are very intelligent and my mindset was maybe I’ll get it and maybe I won’t, but I was very surprised,” he said.

Armetta will be attending the University of Louisiana-Monroe School of Pharmacy this fall.

“I really want to help people, that’s my big thing, and after taking chemistry I decided I wanted to do pharmacy at ULM,” Arnetta said.

Armetta said after taking chemistry his sophomore and junior year with Connie Conner at DeRidder High School he knew he wanted to pursue a career in pharmaceuticals.

“She made chemistry fun and she would tell me how I have such a bright future and I believe in you – she was always very motivational,” he said.

According to him, one of his deciding factors on pursuing pharmacy school was how hard all of his classes have been. It made him want to pursue a harder degree and also his parents have helped him through everything as well.

“My parents have always pushed me to my limits,” he said.

Armetta was very busy in high school not only with his academics, but also in athletics. He played several sports including soccer all four years of high school, football for two and tennis for one year. His favorite sport overall is soccer.

“I’ve always loved soccer, I’ve made team bonding within it,” he said.

He was also in the Beta National Honors Society and in the student council.

Armetta’s hobbies include strength training, club soccer, golf, tennis, pickleball, fishing and spending time with his friends.

He wants future incoming freshmen at DeRidder High School to always be yourself and not try to fit in.

“I can tell you my friend group from going into high school to now is completely different, that’s my biggest thing, just don’t care what other people think about you,” he said.

Armetta is interested in compounding pharmacy and emergency medicine pharmacy.

“Most people think of Walgreens or CVS when you say pharmacy, but there’s so much more than that, like emergency medicine is where you’re on an ambulance and you’re shipping in and out medicine in high intense environments and compounding is when you’re making new drugs to help people and you’re pretty much inventing new medicine,” he said.

“In the future I’ve thought about opening up my own pharmacy one day and being my own boss in my own building,” he said

According to Armetta, he definitely wants to be more hands on in the field.

“I didn’t want to sit in an office and I always knew I wanted to go into the medical field since I was a little kid because both of my parents are doctors and pharmacy clicked after talking to my uncle who is also a pharmacist – I just knew since then,” he said.

The thought of moving away from DeRidder has Armetta a little nervous. but also excited about new beginnings.

“I have several friends moving away in different directions as well and it hasn’t really hit me yet,” he said.

Armetta will be attending orientation soon at the University of Louisiana-Monroe and moving this fall to pursue his future career goals.