We’d like to introduce you to our November Ambassador of the Month, Blake Kvidt! We hope you enjoy reading about his journey through optometry!

Hometown, undergraduate institution, degree, and fun facts about yourself

I’m from Grand Forks, ND and no we don’t still drive covered wagons there. I graduated from The University of North Dakota with a degree in Psychology after taking some time off in the middle of college to figure out what I really wanted to do. I got married to my beautiful wife Emily in 2014, and we are expecting our first child in 2016!

What led you to the field of optometry?

I definitely took a round about way to optometry. I started thinking about it in grade school because I was at the optometrist all the time and my optometrist treated my whole family. My mom stressed the importance of seeing the eye doctor even if there wasn’t a vision problem. My oldest brother has no correction and she still took him every year. I moved away from the idea of optometry in high school because I didn’t think I could handle the extra school. During college, I had around 5 different majors, and nothing seemed to fit. After taking some time off from college, I went back and ended up being around people interested in the field. I also got to know a family at my church and then realized the husband was an OD. Taking these things as a sign, I started to shadow optometrists. It was a good thing to do, but I still wasn’t sure about optometry until I decided to contact my optometrist and ask for a job to get a better idea of the field. The timing was perfect, as someone had just quit and they needed a replacement, so I was hired. After that, there wasn’t a day I didn’t want to come to work. I saw so many different cases, since the practice was pretty varied with six ODs. There was primary care, contacts, disease (I saw lots of glaucoma, cataracts, a herpes keratitis dendrite that looked like a Christmas tree) lots of foreign body removals, and vision therapy. It was after all of that that I decided this was where I was supposed to be.

What led you to choosing Ohio State for optometry school?

I only applied to two schools and got interviews for both of them. I honestly did not think I would come to Ohio State because to me it is huge; the city and the university. I thought I would end up in the smaller city and smaller university, but it all came down to the interview itself. During the other school’s interview, there was just something that wasn’t quite right to me. It was not smooth and I felt like the questions that were asked could have all been answered by reading my essays. When I interviewed at OSU, it felt like I was having a conversation about the profession and everyone there wanted to have the same conversation as well. It didn’t feel like an interview, and they treated me as an adult and not just a student looking to get into school. It may seem like a small thing, but that was very important to me. After that I pretty much knew I wanted to come to Ohio State.

Do you have a specialization in mind for your future career as an optometrist?

I definitely want to specialize in vision therapy and neuro-optometric rehabilitation. One experience before coming to school I had was seeing a 50 year old woman break into tears after her last vision therapy evaluation because she was so happy she could finally do her work without getting headaches and nausea, which she had dealt with for her entire life. Seeing the type of impact the doctors and therapist made on her life was something I knew I wanted to be a part of. I also urrently work as a vision therapist while attending school, and work mostly with kids. It is probably one of the most fun jobs I have ever had. I have to be creative and always on my toes and be willing to adapt when something isn’t working. I really enjoy that aspect.

Do you find it difficult to work at a practice during optometry school? Is there a difference between trying to work during first year as opposed to second year?

I didn’t work my first year, but work now in my second year. I don’t know how I would have handled first year since it was such a shock with the workload changing from what I was used to in undergrad. I don’t know if the workload is much different now, but I am more accustom to it. I honestly like working during school, because for me it’s a break from school and it shows me what I’m working toward in a very real way. I have also learned so much as a vision therapist from the doctors and therapists taking time to teach me. I would recommend others work in a practice as well, if not during the school year then over the summer break between first and second year. There are many benefits to it.

What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?

What is this spare time you speak of? Haha, I do love to cook. It is something I do to relax. Learning new recipes and experimenting with new dishes, spices and flavors is fun to me. I am active in my Catholic faith as well. Going to church and spending time with some families my wife and I have gotten to know has been wonderful. I even got to learn how to make beer with one of the families, which was a pretty cool experience. I enjoy reading and of course Doctor Who!

What advice would you give to a prospective student looking into the field of optometry?

I would definitely recommend working in the field. I don’t think there is a better way to get a feel for it and to know if you will enjoy it. After working in the field, you are able to look and ask yourself, “do I enjoy what I’m doing?”, “do I want to come to work every day?” It’s not going to be a great day at work every day, but for me the positive experiences far outweigh the difficult patients and even on my worst day I woke up the next day wanting to go to work.

If not for Ohio State…

I would not have known the intensity and energy of Dr. Earley when lecturing on immune cells blowing things up.