Our Optometry Classmates with the beautiful Bride and Groom.

Myself with 3 of my classmates and friends Jenna, Chelsea, and Danielle.

Myself with my roommates for this year, Corrie, Nicole, and Val.

This summer has by far been the summer of my life but I couldn’t be happier to be reunited with my Optometry family. We received our White coats on May 17th after completing our week of Keystone. Keystone was a great experience that combined everything that we had learned over the past year into one intense week of clinical review. But the day that we received our white coats made all of the stress of first year completely worth it! It was completely rewarding to put on that White coat after working so hard all year. During the month of June I worked nearly every day on my project as an Albert Schweitzer Fellow. My project was to screen the vision of campers at Ohio State LiFE Sports Camp. This was such a rewarding experience as we got through 299 of the campers. I couldn’t have done it all without the help of my Academic Mentor in the College Dr. Jackie Davis, my site mentor Jerry Davis, some of my amazing classmates, and several other very helpful Optometrists from the College. I also had the opportunity to present the program RealEyes to 370 of the campers. This was another amazing experience as to see the kids get as excited as I am about learning about their eyes. Overall the camp experience was a great one! I will now spend the rest of my year as a Schweitzer Fellow by following up on the students and presenting more RealEyes programs. During the month of June I also had the honor of attending the wedding of one of my classmates Jordan Booth along with some of the others in our class. This was such a fun experience to celebrate the wedding of Jordan and Nikki.
Then at the end of June I had the great opportunity to attend Optometry’s Meeting in Philadelphia. This is the national meeting of Optometrists put on by the American Optometric Association (AOA). It was at this meeting that it was confirmed that I am (in my opinion) in the best profession ever!! This experience was amazing to meet so many Optometrists from not only the best school in the land (Ohio State of course) but also from all over the nation. It was interesting to talk to different doctors about their path in Optometry. What I did notice is how happy everyone is in their profession. I had the opportunity to attend a lot of Continuing Education meetings which were also very interesting. I was extremely happy when I could follow what the educator was talking about just after one year of schooling. Throughout the summer I also took advantage of some Optometry meetings through my preceptorship with Alcon Industries. These were very beneficial to once again interact with current Optometrists in the field and to hear about the up and coming technologies.
For the rest of the summer I took the much needed time to relax and have fun with my family and friends. It was quite an amazing summer but I truly missed my classmates. Like I have said before, since we spend so much time together with our class, we become as close as what I would consider a family. This past weekend has been so great to reunite with everyone and catch up on what we have been doing over the past 3 months. It has also been a great week welcoming the Class of 2018. Last night we had a Sand Volleyball Picnic so that the 1st years could meet their Big in the 2nd year class. I am very excited to have two little in the class, Jessica Bodamer and Heather Van Law. But overall I am excited to get to know the new class and see them learn and grow over the next year. Tonight I will be attending their Welcome Dinner as President of the Class of 2017 and President of Optometry Ambassadors. This event was one of my favorites during my Welcome Week, one year ago.
Today we have “moved up in the world” meaning that we have graduated from Fry 22 to Fry 33. We have all picked out our new seats and are ready for what awaits us as Opt II’s!!

Here we go Class of 2017, we can do this!!
P.S. only 3 Days, 5 Hours, 9 Minutes and 20 Seconds until Buckeye Football Kickoff!
Gooooo BuckEYES!!