“The Price of Freedom is Visible Here”

When I moved into student housing on the campus of the Chillicothe Veterans Affairs Medical Complex the weekend of November 11, the first sign I saw was, “Chillicothe VA Medical Center, The Price of Freedom is Visible Here.”  At that moment, I was intrigued by the statement and wasn’t quite sure what to expect from the rotation. Now, on my last night here, I am extremely sad to leave but very humbled by the experiences I had with every veteran I encountered. 

I once again cannot believe how much time has passed since my last blog. To sum up the past six months: I finished my advanced practice rotation (first rotation of my fourth year); started my in-house rotation (second rotation of my fourth year); took Boards Part III in Charlotte, North Carolina; found out that I passed Part III; finished my final rotation ever at the College of Optometry; started my third rotation of my fourth year at the Chillicothe VA; took Boards Part II; recently found out that I passed Boards Part II; and wrapped up my final week at Chillicothe. Life has once again been quite the whirlwind, but these have been some of the most exciting months yet!

At the beginning of November, I had my last day at the College of Optometry, which was very bittersweet. I have absolutely loved my time at the college and at The Ohio State University, but I was also very excited to branch outside of the college and expand my knowledge base in ocular disease. I moved to Chillicothe and have lived in on-campus VA student housing with my classmate, Kelsey. It has been great to have Kelsey here with me, as we always walk to clinic together and we have been able to explore the Chillicothe area together.

Overall, my experience here at the VA has been an amazing one. It has been such a humbling experience to serve and care for the veterans. I am always so proud to end my eye exam with a special thank you to them for their service, but what I was surprised to hear back more often than not “no, thank you for your service to us, we truly appreciate it.” They have all been so grateful right back to me. I am truly going to miss working with the veterans, as I have so greatly enjoyed the many stories, but especially the abundance of marriage advice that I have received. The average age of my patients, if I would have to guess, is about 65-70 years old, so as you can imagine these veterans have been through quite a lot and they have the bodies to show for it. Therefore, it is because of this, that I have learned a great deal about the treatment and management of ocular disease. This has been such a valuable experience that I am thankful to have had. Some of my classmates are currently applying for residencies (which is something that I will explain in my next post), but that means that some of my classmates will be returning to a VA hospital to immerse themselves in the treatment and management of ocular disease for an extra year after graduation. Although I did consider this option, I am very excited to move home. Therefore, I am very excited to say that I have officially accepted jobs and I will dedicate my next post to this announcement and how that process went for me.

For tonight though, I am enjoying reflecting on how much I have grown as a clinician over the past three months. I will forever be grateful for the experiences  I have had with the veterans and the staff optometrists and residents here at the Chillicothe VA. Kelsey and I just got back from dinner, where we went to downtown Chillicothe to have one more celebratory meal together. As we pulled back into the VA complex, we both commented on the sign that I mentioned at the beginning of this post. We both agree how much that saying explains what we have seen during this rotation and how grateful we both are for the experience we have had here.  It takes something special to serve in the military, they give sacrifices that I will never be able to fully understand, but it is something that I will forever be grateful for.

Overall, I am so grateful for the wonderful staff optometrists, optometric technicians, and residents who have all been so wonderful to work with and learn from, here at the Chillicothe VA. I am so grateful for the amazing experiences I had with each and every veteran. And I am forever grateful to all veterans for their great service and sacrifice that they give for our country.

P is for PASS

“An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest”…. This is the fortune in my cookie that I opened as I was studying for boards in February and boy was it motivating!

I cannot believe that over 6 months have passed since my last blog post because I feel like it was just yesterday. Well as you can guess a lot has happened not only in school, but in my personal life also. January- March can be summed up in one word… BOARDS. All I did nearly every day was study for Boards Part I. Boards Part I is a two day (8 hour/ day), 500 question written exam that is taken March of your third year in Optometry School. My typical day during Boards was to go to class from 8-12pm, then clinic from 1-5:30p.m. then come home to study for my classes and then finish the night by studying for boards. Honestly it was one of the hardest times of my life, but looking back now, it went by very quickly and I am very thankful to have studied everything that I did because I feel like it was a great refresher on all of the little details that we have learned over the past three years. The actual boards exam was on Tuesday March 15th and Wednesday March 16th and immediately the morning after boards a few of us left to go celebrate and relax in Nashville, Tennessee which was absolutely perfect! After completing boards they told us that we would have to wait to find out our scores until the beginning of May so there began the waiting game.

At the end of March, I was finally getting back to my normal happy self. It took a few weeks to fully relieve my stress from studying from boards, and to get back to my normal schedule since I had studied and worried about the test for so long. Well Easter weekend, my then boyfriend proposed to me through an adorable Easter Egg Hunt in front of my family. This was such an exciting time to be done with Boards, to be wrapping up my final semester in the classroom, and then to now have the announcement of a Wedding!! So everything has been pretty great since then. I have finished out the semester and the Class of 2017 took our last Final Exam all together in one room. The week after finishing finals, in early May, I received the news that I had received a P on Boards which means… that I PASSED!!! This meant that I could finally take a deep breath and relax!! And very soon after this announcement, all of my classmates headed our separate ways to begin our 4th year rotations. I will talk a little bit more about how these rotations work in my next post, as now I would like to touch on what I did last weekend.

While in undergrad, two of my close friends (Jenny Conn and Kait Kohler) came to me with an idea to start a Pre-Optometry Public Health group at The Ohio State University called “Eyes on Health” (EOH) and we teamed up with one of the Doctors in the College of Optometry, Dr. Joan Nerderman. It was through her that the EOH group began to go on trips to help with Remote Area Medical (RAM). I went on our first trip with the group in June of 2011, and had such an amazing experience as we traveled to rural Pikeville, Kentucky to give eye care. Now fast forward 5 years later and the EOH teamed up with a group in the College called Fellowship of Christian Optometrists and we were able to send 14 Pre-Optometry Students, 12 Optometry Students, and 4 wonderful Doctors to provide eye care to over 150 patients on Saturday in Huntsville, Tennessee. It was such an amazing experience to see how far I have come in Optometry in that for this trip I was able to work directly with diagnosing and treating our patients. We were set up in several classrooms in the local high school and it was great to be sitting by 6 of my 4th year classmates and to hear us all diagnosing and educating our patients independently. We still have so much to learn to become great Optometrists, but it was great to truly see how far we have all come.

Overall, it has been a roller coaster of ups and downs over the past 6 months, but now us 4th years are smooth sailing for a few months as we are all out on our 4th year rotations learnings as much as we possibly can. I will be back very soon to tell you all about how great my rotations are currently going, but for now it’s time to relax for a little bit to prepare for tomorrow’s busy schedule.

 

Another Semester in the Books!

 

IMG_0855.JPGHere is yet another semester for the books! I have officially completed my 6th semester of Optometry School and have only 1 more semester of classes and clinic before we enter our 4th Year Clinical Externships.

In today’s post picture I have featured my dedicated and furry study buddy, Macula laying on top of most of my notes from this semester. Yes his name is Macula (Mac for short) which if you don’t know yet, you will learn sometime soon if you’re going to Optometry school, Macula is a major part inside of your eye. Today, when I came home after my final, to my room scattered full of notes, highlighters and pens, underneath it all was Mac excited to greet me after my final. I adopted Mac while I was in undergrad and he has been by my side through every late night study session and early morning review for each and every test of Optometry School. While I study he is either in my lap or right next to me with one eye open making sure that I am ok. But after yet another week of straight studying and very little sleep, I am not sure who is more excited to take a nap, me or him. So I am very thankful to have such a good dog by my side who provides the best stress relief and companionship through these long weeks and I know that I am not alone in this feeling from the many snap chats of OPT I, II, and III’s pets this week by their side too.

This semester has flown by way too quickly once again, but has been an exciting one full of great patient experiences and learning opportunities. This was our second semester in clinic seeing real patients and it is amazing to think how much I have improved on my skills, patient communication, and case reasoning. These advancements are all thanks to some pretty great Attendings (Doctors who check in on your exams and check over our measurements) who have challenged, encouraged, and critiqued my exams to only make me better. I am very thankful for the time and knowledge that they share with us all, and am excited to continue to learn and improve from them. I have had a slightly lighter clinical schedule this semester compared to this past summer with only having Primary Vision Clinic twice a week, meaning that I go into clinic on Monday and Thursday afternoons and usually see 2 patients in an afternoon. While not in clinic we usually have had class or I have some time to study and catch up on things.

The biggest event from this semester was that one week ago we all got some of the most exciting news that we get as Third years in that we found out where we be heading for our 4th year out of house Clinical Rotations. Beginning in May of which we will be called 4th years, half of us will be leaving the College of Optometry for 6 months and then we will switch in November. We will be spending 3 months in an Advanced Practice Site and 3 months at a Disease Focused site which is usually a Hospital of Veteran’s Affairs, and then 6 months back in Columbus at the College or other local learning sites. I am very excited to say that I will be here in Columbus for the first six months, will be at the Chillicothe (Ohio) VA Hospital from November- February and at Family Eye Care in Sandusky (Ohio) for my final 3 months of Optometry School. There are sites all over the country and we ranked all of our top choices of where we would like to go. I preferred to stay closer to home in Ohio so I am very excited to be staying here while some of friends chose to go farther and are excited to go to cities like Las Cruces, NM, Athens, GA, White River Junction, VT, or Tucson, AZ.

As I sit here to reflect on this past week and past several months I am thankful to have completed yet another semester and am blown away by how much I have learned and grown over such. Although we are on break and do not have class, I will still be at the school for my clinical rotations over the next few weeks but will still have plenty of time to relax and catch up with friends and family before classes start back up again in January. So until then I hope that everyone has a Happy Holidays!

Eye See Opportunities Galore

“Dear optimist, pessimist, and realist– while you guys were busy arguing about the glass of wine, I drank it! Sincerely, the opportunist!” – Lori Greiner from the show Shark Tank


A lot has happened since my last blog post but time has just been passing by so quickly, it has been hard to get back on here. But I am back with lots of great news to share. This past weekend I had the privilege of attending Vision Expo West in Las Vegas thanks to a scholarship from The Vision Council. Vision Expo West is an Optometry Conference where they bring together all of the Eyewear designers and many other exhibitors to have all of their new products in one place. There are also a lot of great continuing education classes that I was able to sit in on and many networking opportunities where I was able to make great connections from all over the country.
The quote from the beginning of this post is one that I heard this past weekend during one of our student lectures that really got me thinking. The lecture focused on the many opportunities that we have with being an Optometrist and the importance of taking advantage of those when they arise. So this got me thinking about my experiences over the past few months as an Optometry student, and put a huge smile on my face.

Since May I took a big step from a Second Year Optometry Student to a Third Year Student meaning that we went directly into clinic after finals and we began seeing our own patients and have done so all summer long. This has been an amazing experience!!! I have learned an incredible amount while in my 2 half days in Primary Vision Clinic this summer and continue to learn and improve each week in clinic. This summer I also had the opportunity to work in the Eyewear Gallery helping patients pick out glasses and get fitted for them properly. Luckily I had worked in a practice while in undergrad and was very excited to be back helping patients pick out their new glasses once again.

My fourth clinic experience that I had the great opportunity to participate in was the Vision Therapy Clinic. This was yet another amazing experience as it was my first exposure to Vision Therapy and I have found that I really love this aspect of Optometry. It was very exciting to work with patients for 8+ weeks and to celebrate with them as their visual symptoms improved with each visit! I am very excited to learn more about Vision Therapy and hopefully do more with this in my future.

Overall with 4 clinic times and still being in classes it was a very busy summer but by far one of my favorite ones yet. It contained many great opportunities for learning and improvement to really get me started on seeing patients.

Fall Semester began at the end of August and has been off to a great start. This semester I am only in one afternoon of Primary Vision Clinic for now which is a good little breather before I pick up a few more clinics near the end of the semester. With welcoming the First years there were many exciting events and now all of the organizations are getting started up once again providing many more opportunities for us as students. SVOSH (Student Volunteers for Optometric Service for Humanity) students had the opportunity to go to Peru in the beginning of August to see patients in a very underserved area and they got to explore some of Peru while there too. I had the opportunity to go to Las Vegas this past weekend like I said and I will also be going to East/West Eye Conference in Cleveland along with many other students during the first weekend in October for Ohio’s Vision Conference. This Conference too gives us a lot of networking opportunities and chances to learn about the newest and greatest technology in Optometry. And then a good number of our students with be going to the American Academy of Optometry’s meeting in New Orleans in October for yet another great opportunity to see Optometry working on a National level.

In conclusion, after reflecting upon this quote I was truly amazed at all of the opportunities that I have been given and am so thankful for over the past few months. I am thankful to have met and worked with all of the patients that I have thus far. With each patient, I seem to have a unique experience that reminds me why I am working so hard to be here and why I love this profession so much. I had the opportunity to work with kids and adults ranging in ages 8-62 to greatly improve their visual symptoms through therapeutic techniques. I have had the opportunity to help patients pick their new look out for themselves as they chose their new glasses. I had the opportunity to travel to Las Vegas and make so many valuable connections that I am so grateful to have had experienced. And there are many more opportunities just around the corner for us all.

Overall, with the many opportunities as an Optometry student in the classroom to learn from our award winning professors, from our patients encounters in clinic, and the many extracurricular opportunities, it continues to be an exciting time to be an Optometry Student at THE Ohio State University.
#OSUOptometry #GoBuckEYES #visionexpowest

A Fantastic End to my Second Year!

“The purpose of human life is to serve and to show compassion and the will to help others” – Albert Schweitzer

Dr. Michael Earley- Associate Dean for the OSU College of Optometry, Myself, Dr. Jackie Davis- my Academic Mentor, and Dr. Jerry Davis- OSU Athletic Department, my site-mentor, and my brother-in-law. It was such a great evening to have my key supporters and Dr. Earley from the College to help me celebrate my awards.

Dr. Michael Earley- Associate Dean for the OSU College of Optometry, Myself, Dr. Jackie Davis- my Academic Mentor, and Dr. Jerry Davis- OSU Athletic Department, my site-mentor, and my brother-in-law. It was such a great evening to have my key supporters and Dr. Earley from the College to help me celebrate my awards.

It has been quite some time since my last blog post but that is just another example of how quickly time has passed by. Since my last blog post, I spent a week in Jamaica on a mission trip through Fellowship of Christian Optometrists, I completed my final examinations of my Second year of school, I finished out my year of service as an Albert Schweitzer Fellow representing OSU and the College of Optometry, and I was honored to be chosen for the Professional Student Award for Excellence in Community Service through the Office of Engagement and Student Life here at The Ohio State University. I have since begun my third year of Optometry School and am currently working a full day in the Primary Vision Clinic, an afternoon in the Eyewear Gallery, and an afternoon helping patients with Vision Therapy. All while attending our summer classes. As crazy as this all sounds I am as happy as can be here at Ohio State.

Jamaica was an absolutely wonderful experience as we saw one week post-op examinations of patients who had just had cataract surgery. Many of the patients had been blind for several years due to the cataracts and were seeing for the first time in one of their eyes which made for many incredible and heart-warming moments. It is incredible to think about all of the clinical experiences that I was able to witness and assist in treating throughout the three days that we spent in the clinic. We also had the privilege to go out into a local primary school (elementary school) to screen their vision and find the kids that need more immediate attention. This was an amazing experience as the kids were so excited to see our smiling faces and open arms.  Overall the week was yet another life-changing experience that I am so very grateful to have had experienced. I am very lucky to have grown up in a very small knit rural community that was so generous as to sponsor my trip to Jamaica. I would like thank Deshler Lions Club, Napoleon Lions Club, Holgate Lions Club, St. Paul’s Catholic Disciples of Christ, Dr. Jeffrey S. Lauf, Sue and Katy Hammer, and my parents. It was all thanks to these caring people that I am so thankful to have been able to have the amazing experience in Jamaica that I did.

Throughout the past month I also wrapped up my year as an Albert Schweitzer Fellow. Over the past year I have developed a program where I along with some of my classmates and Doctors within the college screened the vision of over 300 kids at LiFE Sports Camp (Learning in Fitness and Education). This is a free sports camp for the underserved population of Columbus. This was an amazing experience as we were all able to improve our clinical skills while helping to screen the vision and educate the kids about their eyes. I have also found a passion in educating kids about the importance of their vision and the warning signs of when something might be changing. So I took the proven program called Real Eyes which was created by the Ohio Optometric Association and have presented it to over 1,500 kids in Columbus, Toledo, and Henry county area over the past year. This has been such a rewarding experience to get to work with kids and see them become excited to learn about their eyes. Then it was through this program that I was chosen for the Professional Student Award for Excellence in Community Service through the Office of Outreach and Engagement at the University. This was such an honor and was quite a fun day to attend the ceremony and poster sessions of all of the service programs going on throughout the entire university.

Overall the past two months have been quite a whirlwind but things are starting to slow down. I am loving the days that I have spent in clinic so far. In our classes this summer it is said that this is when we as Optometry Students really find what aspects we LOVE about Optometry such as Binocular vision, Pediatrics, Contact Lenses, or several other topics. It continues to be a very exciting time here in the College as third years and I am thrilled for everything that I am to learn this summer.

The TRUE Color of “The Dress”



For our Neurological of Visual Perception class this morning we all wore the colors that we saw the dress to be.



             “The Dress” is a picture that nearly crashed the internet last week and sent everyone on the World Wide Web into a heated discussion of what color the dress really was. Well as second years in Optometry school we are currently taking a class called Visual Neurological Perception. It is in this class that we are learning (in simple terms) “exactly how we see”. Starting on the level of the photopigment in our retina and expanding to pathways much more complicated we are learning about the amazing way that light enters into the eye and is transmitted into signals that our brain interprets into an image. The odd coincidence about “The Dress” and this class is that we had our first test of the semester on the exact morning that the picture blew up on the internet. 

             Today in lecture we finally settled the debate and I am happy to bring you the correct answer! From the designer, the dress is actually Blue and Black. But due to many different settings ranging from the camera that took the photo, to the screen that you are viewing the photo on, to the differing amount of photopigment in your eye… everyone has been in a debate of what color the dress really is. I was interested to learn that a mother of the bride took this picture of the dress and sent it to the bride and groom of whom were the first two to see the opposite colors. In very simple terms there are a few things that go into creating this phenomenon… The easiest that I think to understand is that the light falling on the dress is bluer than the light on the background of the picture. Since the dress is in the shade, it is back lit by the blue sky, whereas the background is lit by the sunlight which is a yellow shade. Therefore the main idea is that we don’t know what the illuminant is on the dress but we do know that the:

– sun illuminates the background

– sky illuminates the dress

These two create a confusion of the visual system which results in:

– gold (shade) and black (light) = look the same color 

– blue (white) is the same as white (shade)

Therefore it is possible for your brain to see both colors depending on your screen resolution, the lighting of the room that you are in, and your unique cells in your eye.

              Although this is a very simple answer to the complex question, it has been pretty exciting to be able to give the correct answer and to understand the exact science behind the photo. It has brought great attention to the neurological visual system and has enlightened everyone to the true complexity of our vision. I hope that this will help to prove how complex our eyes truly are and that everyone can see that there is a lot more to going to the eye doctor than “Better 1 or 2”. When an Eye Doctor looks into your eye they are examining not only how well you see, but also the health of all of the structures and cells in your eye and how well they are aging. It is important to have a yearly eye exam because all of these structures can change dramatically over a year without ever showing you any signs or symptoms of a deficit before it is too late. 

            Therefore is it an exciting time to be an Optometry student to fully understand the science behind this photo and for many other reasons. At this point in the semester I have completed 3 full eye exams on my family members and am excited to keep learning to improve these skills. In 10 days I will be going back to Jamaica for my second mission trip through the Fellowship of Christian Optometrists and in April I will be going to Washington D.C. for the American Optometric Association PAC Advocacy Conference. So needless to say I am very excited for the upcoming few months and will be back on here before I know it with the conclusions of the trips!



Here are two OPT II’s, Caitlin Walker and Chelsea Monroe, with our professor Dr. Angela Brown



1st Eye Exam Down…. Many, many, many more to go!

It is a very exciting time for us Opt II students here at Ohio State… Between last week and this week we have all begun to officially perform a full eye exam on real patients. During the second semester of our second year (which is what we are in right now), we go through what is called “OPT II Clinic”. It is during this time that we are assigned one afternoon a week, we are paired up with one of our classmates, and we are watched by an attending while completing full eye exams. Throughout the course of 9 weeks, I will see 5 patients while my partner will see 4 patients, although it has become clear that we are quite the team and end up seeing all 9 of them together. Most of these “guinea pigs” (as I like to call them) are our loved family and friends who graciously give their time to sit as our patients to practice on. But nonetheless they are patients that are not used to being practiced on and who do not give us the scripted answers that we as students have spoiled each other with while practicing. With each exam we are learning valuabe details to help improve our exam skills and thoughts as a clinician.

Last Wednesday was my first official day in the Primary Vision Clinic and the feeling of excitement amongst my classmates was quite evident in the air upon walking into the hallway. We met for clinic at 1p.m. and unpacked all of our equipment with plenty of time to go. We all then sat anxiously awaiting to hear our names called over the loud speaker, indicating that our patients were checked in and ready at the front desk. As the names were called one by one, faint screams of joy were let out all down the hallway and all of us students had huge smiles that we couldn’t seem to wipe away. After all, this moment was what we had been dreaming of for so long. Throughout the entire process of wanting to go to Optometry School, getting into Optometry School, and then being in Optometry School, seeing patients seemed like it was so far away. But finally after a year and a half in Fry Hall, mannnnny (MANY) sleepless nights, and more exams and practicals than I wish to count…. we were proficient enough to see our first patient on our own!

This is a picture of my Sister and I after her Eye Exam! (Full consent given and on file) She has always been there to support and encourage me along my long journey to Optometry School, therefore it meant a lot to have her be my very first patient EVER!

This is a picture of my Sister and I after her Eye Exam! (Full consent given and on file) She has always been there to support and encourage me along my long journey to Optometry School, therefore it meant a lot to have her be my very first patient EVER!

It was quite an amazing feeling walking the down the hallway to call on my patient. I was filled with so many different emotions ranging of course from the thrill of the moment to the nervousness of that this was finally the real thing! My first exam was my sister (who has given me full permission to mention so) and was a great first patient indeed. She has been such a huge supporter of everything that I have done while growing up and it truly meant a lot for me to see her as my very first patient ever!!! Her exam went great and I prescribed my very first printed prescription for glasses. With a huge thanks to my clinic partner (Kurt Mills) and my attending Dr. Smith, the exam was not nerve wracking at all and was in fact quite relaxing. I performed the skills that I had practiced so many times before and learned a lot as I went along. By the end of the semester we will need to complete an entire eye exam in less than 1 hour and 45 minutes. Although my first one took just over 2 hours, I was happy with my time and will become more efficient as I become more proficient with my skills. I will be seeing more of my family and close friends before the end of the semester of which I am excited to improve my clinical skills and learn at every step along the way. Butttttt for now we are all going to celebrate and enjoy this big milestone along the pathways to our career. It has been a long road to get to where we are today, and there is still a long road ahead, but for now we are going to pit stop and enjoy this feeling of accomplishment! Congratulations to the Class of 2017!! 1 exam down… Many, many, many more to go!

Catching the BuckEYE Spirit

This is a picture of myself with two of my roommates, Nicole and Corrie. We were very lucky to be able to attend the Big 10 Tournament Game in Indianapolis, IN in December!

This is a picture of myself with two of my roommates, Nicole and Corrie. We were very lucky to be able to attend the Big 10 Tournament Game in Indianapolis, IN in December!

2015 has definitely come in with quite a bang here at Ohio State!!! As I’m sure that you have heard, our beloved Football team brought home the inaugural College Football Playoff National Championship last Monday night. This was also our first day back to classes for the Spring Semester. So from the outside looking in that doesn’t seem like much of a conflict. But from my perspective it was one of the hardest decisions of my life. Like I have mentioned before, I have been a die-hard Buckeye since the day I was born. I have attended this great institution for 5 and ½ years at this point and continue to grow my love for my Buckeyes each and every day. Therefore, when it came down to deciding whether to make the 18hr trek to Dallas, Texas for the game and miss the first two days of school or stay home to watch the game, I had quite the dilemma. I did end up staying home and decided that my school money would be better put to use by going with the Fellowship of Christian Optometrists to Jamaica for a mission trip over Spring Break (which I will talk more about later). I made the right decision because I had the best night watching the game. My house here on campus, was filled with 30+ of my Optometry classmates crammed (literally) into my living room cheering on our Buckeyes. It was an amazing feeling for me to be surrounded by these friends that have come from Colleges and Universities all around the country all screaming at the top of our lungs in celebration of our win. We all brought appetizers and even had ourselves some Duck to eat all while we enjoyed the game together. I couldn’t have asked for better way to enjoy the amazing experience, it was definitely a night that we will all remember for years to come.

This experience is just another reason of why The Ohio State College of Optometry is such an amazing place. Within the building itself we have ourselves a very tightknit family that is willing to do whatever we need to help each other succeed. This is not only on the student level but also from the faculty. One of the things that has amazed me the most when transitioning into Optometry School a year and half ago was how down to earth and helpful all of the professors were. They are willing to go above and beyond their job description to help us learn and be the best Optometrists that we can become. I can still remember sitting in Fry 33 that first week of Optometry School when Dr. Earley told us that he was excited to teach to his future colleagues and that was how he would treat us. That truly caught my attention and has continued to impress me as I have seen this with each and every professor, attending, and staff member that I have met thus far. But back to why OSU is so great… Not only does it provide us with this family inside Fry Hall but it also gives us the amazing opportunities and experiences of one of the largest and in my opinion most spirited schools in the country! Not only has the past week been fun celebrating the big win but so has every Saturday this past football season as we tend to come together to relax and enjoy watching our Buckeyes play. As Optometry students, we are usually very busy studying, but if you plan accordingly it is very possible to take time off to fully enjoy the games with your friends. The Buckeye spirit is very big and quite frankly contagious. The spirit of the Buckeyes brings a whole new life to our time here at Ohio State and has already left us all with more memories than we will be able to count.

This semester is off to a shot gun start, on top of the exciting win last week! Last Wednesday, I completed my first complete eye exam on one of my classmates, and I will be starting to do full eye exams on my family and friends starting in February. I will be back on here very soon again to give you another update but for now I just had to give you all a little taste of the excitement that we are living here at THE Ohio State University College of Optometry!

Gooo BuckEYES!

It will all be worth it… In 2 years and 6 months!!!

If you haven't noticed yet, I am obsessed with my Ohio State Buckeyes. Therefore, can you take a guess on which lenses are mine?  When buying our equipment we had the chance to customize our BIO (Binocular Indirect Lenses) Lenses. Most people put their name or initials while I chose Scarlet, Gray, and Black Lenses that say Go Buckeyes!

If you haven’t noticed yet, I am obsessed with my Ohio State Buckeyes. Therefore, can you take a guess on which lenses are mine?
When buying our equipment we had the chance to customize our BIO (Binocular Indirect Lenses) Lenses. Most people put their name or initials while I chose Scarlet, Gray, and Black Lenses that say Go Buckeyes!

I can’t believe that yet another month has gone by, but that just means that in exactly 2 years and 6 months from this moment I will be walking through the Horseshoe with my family (AKA Class of 2017) wearing our Seafoam Green Robes and Doctorate Hoods. This is crazy to think about how fast the past year has gone and how much that we have learned. This semester has continued on with many tests and practicals, but has been manageable. It has been pretty amazing to learn and practice our new techniques on each other yet sort of scary to think that in less than 8 weeks we will be giving our first full eye exam on our family and friends.

The past month has been quite the whirlwind like I said in my last post but has been a great one none-the-less. At the beginning of the month I traveled with many other Students from the College to the Ohio Optometric Association’s annual meeting known as East/West Eye Conference in Cleveland, Ohio. At this conference I got to interact with Doctors from all over Ohio and had the opportunity to make some pretty important connections for the future. The evening event was pretty amazing as they opened up the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for the Conference and a band of Optometrists known as the “Bad Habits” played as the entertainment. Overall the conference was yet another one of the many great opportunities that I have taken advantage of so far in Optometry to network and expand my knowledge base about the field.

Then on October 19th myself along with four of my classmates ran the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Half Marathon, with two of my classmates running the Full Marathon (Congratulations to my roommate Nicole Wenman who ran the full AND qualified for the Boston Marathon). So this goes to show you that you do have a life outside of Optometry School. Although we are so busy, it is very important to take time for yourself to relax and have fun. Some people call me crazy but I have found running to be a great stress reliever. Running works very well for me to clear my mind and then get back to studying but every person is completely different. One of the questions that I get asked most often is how I manage my time between the classes, the labs, being involved in nearly every club, holding many leadership positions in the clubs, and oh… having my own dog. My answer is that, is that it all sounds daunting but it is very doable at the same time. You have to become a master of time management. I personally keep every little meeting in my phone… basically if it isn’t on my calendar in my phone, I won’t be there. I have also become very good at getting my work done when I need too. I like to hang out with my friends and have fun on the weekends but to do this I have to really stay focused and get a lot of studying done during the week. And well with my dog, his name is Macula (which is a part of your eye J) but he is the greatest stress reliever that I have and I do not know what I would do without him. I live very close to the school which is convenient to be able to run home and let him out and play a few rounds of fetch if I have time. His favorite thing to do is curl up next to me while I study my notes which works out perfectly. And I do live with three other 2nd years in Optometry school which all treat Mac like their own and help me out with him, which I am forever grateful for.

So overall, my advice for this post is that although it does sounds overwhelming it is all doable. It is important to work hard and stay focused but you do need to take some time to yourself to relax and have fun. We often have to remind each other that our hard work will all pay off and be completely worth it…. In exactly 2 years and 6 months!!!!!

Goooo BuckEYES!! Beat Michigan State!

This picture was actually from the College of Optometry 100th Anniversary Celebration. We got all dressed up and even Macula put on his bow tie for our picture. I live with three other 2nd year Optometry Students, Corrie, Nicole, and Val.

This picture was actually from the College of Optometry’s 100th Anniversary Celebration. We got all dressed up and even Macula put on his bow tie for our picture. I live with three other 2nd year Optometry Students: Corrie, Nicole, and Val.