OPT Visionary - Summer 2014

Blake Dornstauder , class of 2014, was this year’s NSUCO recipient of a $1,000 Varilux Student Grant. Dornstauder’s case report on a patient fit with Varilux lenses was so exceptional that he was also designated as the overall national award winner and earned a travel grant to the 117 th Annual AOA Congress and 44 th Annual AOSA Conference held June 25-29 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The program has been sponsored by Es- silor of America for more than 25 years and demonstrates the company’s ongoing dedication to optometric educa- tion, optometry students, and the optometric profession. Blake Dornstauder Earns Varilux Student Grant PAGE 9 The Varilux Optometry Student Bowl, which was held at the 116 th Annual AOA Congress and 43 rd Annual AOSA Conference: Optometry’s Meeting® on June 26-30, 2013, in San Diego, California, celebrated its 22 nd anniversary with a first-ever tie. The event was hosted by Essilor of America and coordinated and produced by its director of professional relations, Danne Ventura, FAAO. A student is chosen from each school and college of optometry to compete and answer optometry-themed questions. A tie was proclaimed between David Zimmerman from the Uni- versity of Alabama at Birmingham and NSUCO class of 2014 student Blake Dornstauder . Eye Site Student News Don Tran, class of 2015, received a $500 HOYA Vi- sion Care Grant that allowed him to attend the 117 th Annual AOA Congress and 44 th Annual AOSA Con- ference being held June 25-29 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he had an opportunity to qual- ify for a $5,000 scholarship. In order to be consid- ered, Tran submitted an ePoster case study involving the use of a HOYA product on a patient. HOYA Vision Care North America sponsors this pro- gram for the 20 optometry schools and their third- and fourth-year students in the United States and Puerto Rico. The class of 2018 includes 104 tradi- tional students that will begin their opto- metric careers on August 4. This diverse group of young people comes from across the country, with 50 from Florida, 2 from California, 2 from Maryland, 4 from New York, 2 from Ohio, 4 from Pennsylvania, 7 from Texas, and 2 from Wisconsin. In total, 23 states are represented in this tal- ented group, with 13 from Canada, 1 from Guyana, and 1 from Jamaica. The 104 students come from academic institutions such as the University of Florida, University of Central Florida, Uni- versity of Western Ontario, University of Toronto, University of Miami, University of Tampa, Pennsylvania State University, Ohio State University, James Madison Uni- versity, Florida International University, University of Washington, University of Calgary, George Mason University, Nova Southeastern University, University of Min- nesota, Texas A&M University, Michigan State University, University of Maryland, North Carolina State University, State Uni- versity of New York, Arizona State Univer- sity, Florida State University, Baylor Uni- versity, and the University of Texas. This year, we had another very success- ful application cycle with 1,000-plus appli- cants for the 104 seats in our entering class. We continued to have quality appli- cants late into the application cycle, as the average student comes to us with a 3.37 cumulative GPA and a 3.25 science GPA. Their scores on the OAT examination were outstanding, with the average student earn- ing a 323 academic average and 322 total science score. This statistically significant improvement in scores points to the contin- ued elevation of NSUCO’s reputation as an outstanding institution. In fact, 40 percent of the national applicant pool decided it wanted to be considered for admissions at NSU’s College of Optometry. We are proud to welcome the class of 2018 to our family and are confident this group of young people will be outstanding contributors to the profession of optometry in the near future. NSUCO Warmly Welcomes Class of 2018 to the Optometry Family By Michael Bacigalupi, O.D., M.S., FAAO Assistant Dean for Student Affairs Don Tran Receives HOYA Vision Care Grant Varilux OSB Ends in Historic Tie