Well its been a while since I have been  on the blog but I wanted to fill you in with what has been happening recently. I have just finished my last externship in St. George, UT and I loved it. I learned so much from the doctors and staff there. I was treated like a doctor at this rotation. The staff would schedule patients for me and I had my own exam room and patient schedule.  I was very fortunate that this is an SCO extern site. Both doctors here are SCO alumni and are wonderful. They have a wealth of knowledge that they are willing to share and they  helped me achieve my goals.

I was also able to continue the job hunt. It has been going very well. There are many resources out there to help new graduates find a job they are looking for. I wanted to join a private practice and eventually become a partner. I was able to find exactly what I wanted. I will be joining a practice in Oregon, right on the beautiful coast. We are very fortunate and excited to begin this next chapter in our lives.

 Some words of advice for those beginning this process next year. Start early!!! It does not hurt to start looking for jobs and networking early. Attend local and national meetings to start meeting contacts. Join state optometric associations and look at their classifieds. Contact drug/frame reps in the areas that you want practice in. Take full advantage of the SCO placement service. They have people from ALL over the country looking to add an OD to their practice. Stay connected with the AOSA (American Optometric Student Association). Through them and the AOA is a program called Optometric Career Center. There you can post your resume and search providers (similar to the SCO Placement Service).  Begin to send out your resume (called a CV), cover letter (letter of intent), and some optometric reference letters (you get from professors or staff doctors here at SCO) early. Get your name out and be involved.  Take any interview you can and be prompt with your emails and contact with possible employers.

I hope some of this advice will help you when you reach this part in your life. I am feeling a bitter sweetness right now.  I am very sad to be leaving SCO. It has been a wonderful place to grow and learn. My family and children have loved living here and we will definitely miss it. But we are excited to begin this next chapter in our lives. I am fortunate that I am a life long member of the SCO family. I will enjoy making the trips back here in future years to attend continuing education programs and other events. I hope that over the next few years, you too will realize the importance of SCO and the impact it has on our lives. Thank you SCO, faculty, staff and students for all you have done for me and my family!

I have enjoyed sharing this small part of my life here at SCO with you and wish you all the best. Good luck with your endeavors.

Cheers,

-Riley

I survived my first year of optometry school, blogosphere!

Big congrats to my Class of 2015-ers. We took over eight exams in a week’s period– no sweat right?! Somehow we managed to get though all of them together. With that marathon finish, I think we all deserve a nice vacation before the summer mini-term begins.

So what do newly initiated second-years do with their one-and-only summer vaca during optometry school?  There’s actually quite a few options! For example, many of my classmates are currently abroad this week participating in service trips in Colombia, Belize, and Mexico. There, my classmates are providing free eye health and vision care services for some of those countries most underserved populations. Way to go and “Save Some Vision” amigos!

Some of my classmates have teamed up with professors to  lead various research endeavors at SCO this summer, while other classmates are using their vacation to work or shadow in optometry offices and put to the test the many new skills they’ve learned over this past year.

I’m hoping to get a bit of that practice in here and there when I get back to KY in June with some of my town’s local optometrists . As of now though, I’m working front desk at The Eye Center and taking advantage of my free evenings to catch up on some reading. However, I’m pretty sure all I can think about when I read are my eye-tracking movements and if they’re a normal speed, how my magno and parvo pathways are affecting my comprehension, and how my overshoots and undershoots are affecting my gaze shifts…thank you Dr. Schnell and Dr. Harris.  Come the end of this month, my younger brother will be graduating high school (man, I feel old), which means I’ll be spending most of my days catching up with the fam’ on Lake Cumberland and utilizing my free time to do trial frame refractions on just about anyone I know :)

At the end of June most of my classmates, including me, will be heading north of the Mason Dixon Line to the Windy City of Chicago for Optometry’s Meeting 2012…think SECO times 10. Besides the usual CE courses, tradeshow, and tourist attractions, this is the main meeting for both the American Optometric Association (AOA) and American Optometric Student Association (AOSA). As SCO’s AOSA Trustee-elect, I’ll be spending most of my time at Optometry’s Meeting in board meetings for the AOSA as well as meeting my fellow trustees and trustee-elects from each optometry school. I’m also looking forward to seeing all the school’s decked out in their themed outfits (SCO’s theme is ‘Construction’ to match the upcoming renovations and improvements happening on campus). Also, I’m excited to attend the Student Bowl competition where our very own, Aubrey Fulton, will represent SCO and compete for a chance to be named the National Student Bowl Champion.

Fast forward to July, and it’s back to the Blues City for the summer mini-term. So if anyone has needed an indicator of how fast time flies, my first-year really has been it. Just think, by this time next year I will have officially started working as a student doctor in The Eye Center!!

But let’s not get too ahead of ourselves just yet, and enjoy the summer break we do have. Don’t fret blogosphere , I’ll keep you posted throughout the summer of my whereabouts and watchabedoings. In the meantime, enjoy these photos taken during the Patio Farewell event:

                       

Cheers to summer…

Carpe Diem,

Amy

Whew!  It has been an intense past few weeks.  Clinical check-outs, an optometry conference in Orlando, and finals.  Are we there yet? Finals ended Friday and boy am I glad.  While finals are a big deal, there’s really not a lot to talk about there, but clinical checkouts….

So for those of you who haven’t been following along, “Clinical Checkout” is THE practical of practicals.  We essentially perform the core skills that we’ve been learning for the past 2 years in under an hour.  So what was it like?  I’ll tell you. Just a few more details before I dive in so that you understand the scenario.

Clinical Checkout contains 5 sections: Patient History, Chair Skills, Refraction, Slit Lamp, and un-dilated retinal examination.  If you get less than 80% on any section, you have to retake that section.  If you fail more than 1, you fail the whole practical.  Every time I had practiced it, I was around 53 minutes.  “Perfect,” I thought….”7 minutes to spare.”  On the day of the practical, a good buddy of mine was assigned to be my “patient”. What luck!  After setting everything up, the time began. 

First 2 parts went fine, then trouble struck during refracting.  For some reason, I just couldn’t get things going that day.  Everything just seemed to go so slow.  Usually I finish the first 3 sections in 33 minutes so that I have 27 minutes to do the last 2 sections.  By the time I finished refraction, I only had 15 minutes left to complete everything.  I could just see it coming… EPIC FAIL.  If I ran out of time, I was sure to fail a section.  I buckled down and kicked it into high gear.  I flew through slit lamp on both eyes in 10 minutes.  5 minutes to complete a retinal exam and put everything into the computer.  I picked up my lens and expected to see my friend’s small pupils.  Instead, the windows of heaven opened (and his pupils) and I was able to quickly assess his retina in 3 minutes.  I put everything in to the computer and then looked at my time…..34 seconds left.  I went back and fixed one number in the computer just as the time ran out.  Whew!  Everything ended up turning out great, but that was so stressful.  In our wrap -up, the proctor was complimentary and also gave me some good feedback. 

Now for a much needed break before I start seeing patients in a week!

Hello Blogosphere:

On my first big assignment since being elected SCO’s American Optometric Student Association (AOSA) Trustee-elect, I travelled to the nation’s capital for the Congressional Advocacy Conference. Over 700 students and optometrists joined together as members of the AOA-PAC to storm Capitol Hill on behalf of optometry’s future.

The conference was a crash-course in the legislative issues most affecting optometry. One issue of particular importance that I lobbied on behalf of was HR 1195/ S2192, the “National Health Service Corps Improvement Act.” If passed, this bill will bring more optometrists to under served communities by including optometry in the current NHSC student loan repayment/scholarship program. Nurses, dentists, medical doctors, and several other health professions are already a part of the NHSC, and as THE primary vision care providers, it only makes sense that optometry be included as well. I plan to practice in Appalachia, so the NHSC could directly impact someone like me who wants to provide their services within the nation’s most under served regions. Even more, the NHSC would not only open more career opportunities for graduating optometrists, but it would provide greater access to essential eye health and vision care to the people of these medically underserved areas.

But back to D.C., of course. April is a wonderful time to be on the Hill. The cherry blossoms are in full bloom and the weather is just right. The monuments are breathtaking and the museums are second to none. History really does come alive in D.C… and even though I’ve been going there at least once each year since 10th grade, I still get that giddy feeling knowing I’m walking in the same hallways and on the same sidewalks as did some of our nation’s greatest political minds. Even better, I was able to experience it all this time around by representing not only SCO, but our great profession.

Several other SCO students attended the CAC, and I expect many more to attend next year (we’ll have to work better on the exam schedule then, right first years?!). I met students from at least 18 of the other optometry schools, and it was great to catch up with them as we shared our mutual stress over classes and passion for this profession. I met several KY optometrists and even got share in the roaring excitement as we watched from one of the hotel suites our University of Kentucky Wildcats become the 2012 NCAA Division I National Basketball Champions. Speaking of meeting people, I was even able to snag a quick photo with NBC Today Show Chief White House Correspondent, and our luncheon keynote speaker, Chuck Todd  (thanks, Kevin)! Yes, there were plenty of great memories and legislative insight gained at the Congressional Advocacy Conference.

I’m looking forward to next year’s conference already!

Carpe Diem,

Amy

Greetings Again!!

The semester is coming along and also close to an end. Spring semester as a second year student has been very challenging in every meaning of the word. I think we have had more quizzes this semester than any other so far. We have quizzes in our normal lecture classes, and also in lab. Then we have lab practicals and pre-clinic checkouts, so we are always practicing every chance we get to perfect our technique in clinic.

Speaking of clinic, we are a month away from being thrown into the fire of seeing patients in the Eye Center. These first two years of school have flown by, and now it’s time to really get some patient experience. School screenings have improved my confidence with technique, but now it’s time to get more familiar with handling patients in the exam room. I think all of my classmates are ready to make the transition, but at the same time a little nervous in that we don’t know everything. Hopefully, our staff doctors will be more than understanding of that.

In other news, SCO recently hosted an event called Discover Optometry. It’s a huge event held every other year here on campus where prospective students have an opportunity to tour the school and get a feel for SCO and the profession of optometry. I believe we had over 160 guests, which has been the biggest turnout so far in Discover Optometry history. I was able to assist with the touring of the school, and all of them had nothing but great things to say about our school.  The day started with a welcome address from Dr. Phillips, followed by an admissions and financial aid talk. The prospective students had an opportunity to ask questions to our student panel, and then the real fun began with the touring of the Eye Center and SCO. The tour also included observing a slit lamp examination as well as lens grinding. I think everyone had a good time and got to enjoy themselves. Discovery Optometry was definitely a huge success.

I’ll be blogging again soon… until then…

Later~

On Friday night, SCO hosted an amazing event for InfantSee.  InfantSee is a program that originated from a discussion between two SCO graduates at SECO several years ago. It provides children under the age of 1 with a free eye exam.  The idea is to catch eye conditions early before they permanently affect vision.  The keynote speaker was Tom Sullivan and his presentation blew me away.  I decided to go last minute and actually didn’t have very high expectations.  Even with all the emails, postcards, and visits to class about the event, I still wasn’t convinced.  I attended mostly expecting a lecture from a smart person who had accomplished a lot.  I was pleasantly surprised.

While Tom Sullivan is a smart and accomplished man, what really impressed me was his ability to connect with my emotions and not just my intellect.  Tom developed a blinding disease due to complications from his premature birth.  Yet that didn’t stop him from achieving.  Tom golfs, writes music, plays the piano, sings….the list goes on and on?  Throughout the night he sang a number of songs and told stories that made me laugh until my sides hurt.  By the end, I felt like I knew him.  That made his message so much more meaningful.

He praised optometry for the work we are doing to save vision. At the same time, his message felt like a call to arms for us to go out and eradicate blindness from the face of the earth.  As we do that, will we just find and diagnose sight-threatening diseases, then write a prescription and leave?  No.  Dr. Glen Steele noted in the opening remarks  ”I Will Walk With You Every Step of the Way”  and Tom repeated this phrase throughout his presentation. He was diagnosed by one of the best ophthalmologists in the field at the time. When that doctor presented the situation to Tom’s parents, he coldly stated, “Your child is blind.  I would institutionalize him”….and then walked out of the room.  That is not the kind of doctor anyone wants to have involved in their child’s life.

At a moment such as that, we all want a doctor who cares.  To illustrate the kind of care that can take place, they played an audio recording of a mother that really touched me.  The recording was just a voice mail left at the American Optometric Association office, but it was significant.   She had seen commercials for InfantSee and decided to take her healthy 8 month old baby in for a checkup.  What the optometrist found was Retinoblastoma which is a cancer of the eye.  The cancer was treated her baby’s life was saved.  Her thank you was so simple, and yet so profound.

After the program, I felt a greater perspective on my mission as an optometrist.  I chose optometry because I wanted to help preserve vision, yet between all my tests, quizzes, and practicals it’s easy to forget that ultimate goal.  Thanks for the reminder.  1 more month and I’ll be in clinic helping people.  If you’re my patient, my hope is that ”I Will Walk with You Every Step of the Way.”

After months of studying I  finally finished Part 1 of the National Boards last Tuesday. We don’t find out until May if we passed or not but I’m just going to listen to my moms advice. “Might as well celebrate like you passed, until you find out if you didn’t!”

Just to give you a little more insight on what taking the exam is like I thought I’d be the most descriptive now since I just so recently took it. The exam consisted of 500 questions broken into 4 different sections of 125. You get 3 hours and 45 minutes for section so it’s more than enough time to finish each one. It’s taken over two days so you take 2 sessions the first day and 2 sessions the second day. It’s a rough couple days but the feeling you have afterwards is priceless!

Since boards have been over I’ve been enjoying the beautiful weather here in Memphis and all the spring events the city has to offer. I’m excited for externships this summer and can’t believe that in a little over a year I’ll be a doctor!

Hello Blogosphere:

Spring Break, where did you go?! I spent all year looking forward to this one week and within a few blinks it came to a speedy end.  I’ve spent three weeks trying to wrap up this blog post, but as you can imagine, there’s been no break from optometry school. In fact, since returning back from SECO  I’ve already had four exams and a practical…and I’ve got three more exams next week.

As you all know from my last post, I was SECO bound. So, what is this thing called SECO? SECO is the Southern Educational Congress of Optometry. For Docs, SECO is the premiere continuing education, exhibits, and events program for the southern U.S. For students though, there’s a lot to take advantage of between networking, informative classroom-to-practice lectures, social soirees, and of course,  A-T-L-A-N-T-A!

Here were some of my favorite SECO 2012 highlights:

• The “Bling Your Eyez” Student Party: Students from neighboring schools in Missouri, Alabama, Pennsylvania, and Florida joined together for a night of dancing, mingling, flashing glow-in-the-dark cups (which my first years compadres will understand when I say we shoud have done a Critical Flicker Frequency test with those cups, ha), and taking full advantage of the on-site photo booth.
• The SCO Alumni and  Friends Reception: I mean, hello, Atlanta Falcons Drum Line Processional to unveil the new video about SCO’s “Envision Our Progress” construction project?! Now that’s the way you kick off the celebration.
• The SECO Tradeshow: Hundreds of vendors from the top optometric companies were set up in the World Congress Center to show-off some of the latest technologies in optometric care. While I didn’t have the gusto as some of my classmates to sweep around each booth for freebies, I did get to enjoy complimentary mango smoothies and contact lens solution…that was a pretty good deal enough for me. Besides there is always next year, right ;)
• The Saturday Night Party: This “Denim-and-Diamonds” themed party was held at the Georgia Aquarium and included the country sounds of Laura Bell Bundy (of Broadway’s Legally Blonde fame).  It was a mix-and-mingle event for all SECO attendees set against the backdrop of sharks, dolphins, and stingrays, oh my!

So after a not so good start to my trip, things went pretty smooth from there on out. During one of my ATL escapades, I was even able to take in a NEEDTOBREATHE concert. Not familiar with the band? Neither was I initially, but fortunately some of my classmates introduced me to the band. You must check this group out…they are too good. If you’re a fan of Mumford & Sons or Kings of Leon, you’ll definitely fall in love with this band. Lucky for me, NEEDTOBREATHE will also be performing at the Memphis in May Beale Street Music Festival…can-not-wait.

    

I’m already looking forward to next year’s SECO…but first, these three exams!

Carpe Diem,

Amy

P.S. Check out my next blog post as I report from this year’s Congressional Advocacy Conference in Washington D.C. and fulfill one of my first official duties as AOSA Trustee-elect lobbying on behalf of organized optometry.

Hey everyone!

Well I definitely had a wonderful time at the SCO housing fair last weekend. It was great to finally meet some of my future classmates and be back in Memphis at SCO. Apparently we had the largest group to attend a housing fair to date – almost 70 of my classmates and 80 guests were in attendance.

Some of my classmates and I started our day early with the opportunity to attend a class with first year students. ‘Ocular Physiology’ with Dr. Taylor was a great preview of what’s to come of our classroom experience at SCO. Although I do have to admit that it was nice to sit in a class and not have to worry about remembering what was being taught. I learned a little bit though :-).

After class, I was able to meet with a financial aid counselor to discuss my aid application and financial aid options. The financial aid office staff has been very helpful thus far in clearly explaining how loan process works and the best ways to keep our costs down. The staff is definitely a resource that I will be utilizing a lot in the coming years.

Later in the day, after touring some apartments with my parents, we went to the exhibit hall where different apartment representatives were set up (with lots of goodies) ready to answer our questions. There were representatives for apartments in Cordova to Mud Island and just about everywhere in between. It was convenient to hear what each place had to offer in a “one stop shop” type of setting. After that, we got to hear from a panel of several SCO student ambassadors about where they lived, their experience there, how much their rent is, if they have a roommate, when they signed their lease, etc. The Q&A session was extremely helpful. Following that, we all enjoyed a delicious barbecue dinner to conclude Friday’s activities. On Saturday, we were able to tour a few apartments located downtown and on Mud Island as a group, which was also very helpful.

I’d say that the housing fair definitely served me well. I had a chance to look at a couple apartments when I went for my interview back in September so, prior to the housing fair, I had an idea of where I wanted to live. However, after talking to many different apartment representatives and hearing from current students about where they live, I have a lot to think about. Decisions, decisions!

Feyisayo

Last weekend was the SCO Housing Fair for the incoming class of 2016. It’s a great chance for new students to come to Memphis to find a place to live and to show the school and city to their friends or family, while not being nearly as nervous as the last time they were here on interview day. I went to dinner with everyone on Friday and tagged along on the bus tour of local apartments in downtown Memphis and Mud Island on Saturday. Attendees also had the chance to sit in on a first year class, meet with apartment representatives and tour the campus. It was nice to see some familiar faces from my tours on interview days from earlier in the year. I have to say congratulations to everyone that was accepted and that chose to join us in the fall. Also, have to congratulate the incoming first years  for having the biggest group yet, at any of the housing fairs at SCO.

I was at the very first housing fair back in May of 2010, and I think there were about 25 or so classmates of mine. We were all able to  visit the apartments on one bus, while the group of students from last weekend were shuttled around in 5 buses. At last years housing fair, I had just become an ambassador, so I got to tag along for dinner at SCO and meet students after at a restaurant on Mud Island. If I remember correctly, there were about 45 or so students that year. This year there were about 70 students registered for the housing fair, along with their guests.  I’m glad to see everyone so excited about moving to Memphis. I interviewed at quite a few schools, and SCO was the only school that helped direct students to affordable and convenient housing. Yes, a few schools had dorms, but I had moved out of dorms after freshman year in undergrad and wasn’t going back. I was definitely excited to hear about a housing fair and a chance to check out apartments with classmates. Saturday was also St. Patrick’s Day, so it was great to be outside and meeting new people on a pretty day in Memphis.