OPT Visionary - Winter/Spring 2015

PAGE 12 M iranda Ranieri, a former elite squash player at Yale University turned word-class squash professional, was born just outside of Toronto in Waterloo, Ontario. Ranieri was introduced to squash at a young age by her parents, who had a genuine love for the sport. She played several sports while growing up and throughout high school, including basketball, volleyball, soccer, and badminton. Her heart, however, was with squash, which explained why many great opportunities were presented to her throughout her life that kept her playing long-term. Ranieri’s athletic career includes some notable accomplishments such as the Betty Richey Award in 2008, which is awarded to the league MVP, three- time Senior Canadian National Champion in May of 2010, 2011, and 2012, Athlete of the Year in the Kitchener, Waterloo, and Cambridge Region in 2012, and competing in the Pan American Games on Team Canada, achiev- ing one gold and two bronze medals. In fact, many of her greatest moments occurred while she was traveling with Team Canada and on the Yale University squash team. According to Ranieri, the highlight of her squash career took place in October 2011 when Team Canada won the gold medal at the Pan American Games in Guadala- jara, Mexico. “It was great sharing that experience with my teammates,” she proclaimed. Prior to graduating from Yale University with a Bachelor of Science in Mo- lecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, Ranieri had harbored a desire to enter a profession in the health care field, including optometry, which she was introduced to while shadowing an optometrist from Waterloo. She was specifically fond of the fact that being an optometrist would allow her to in- teract with patients and make a difference in their lives. After graduating from NSUCO in 2016, Ranieri has aspirations of estab- lishing a practice in Canada so she can be near her loved ones. Because she has fallen in love with Florida, however, she is contemplating making it her permanent home. Luckily, she has time to decide before committing to a decision prior to her May 2016 graduation. T HE J OURNEY FROM A THLETES TO ASPIRING OPTOMETRISTS R oaming the halls of NSUCO at a towering six-feet, five-inches, it should be no surprise that prior to enrolling in optometry school, Stephanie Sarosi was a star player on the NSU women’s basketball team. Sarosi admitted, however, that her initial involvement in sports was actually not in basketball but soccer, which she played for nearly seven years. At the age of 10, her height began to attract plenty of attention. As a result, she was introduced to basketball by two men who wanted her to participate in a tournament. Her deep interest and love for the sport kicked off in middle school, where she began playing full time. Later, Sarosi, who graduated from NSU in 2011 with a dual Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and Exercise and Sport Science, would be coached in the varsity basketball team at As- tronaut High School in Titusville by the very two men who introduced her to the game. As a college freshman, Sarosi enrolled in the University of South Florida (USF), a Division I school. The USF Web site describes her as “The high- est-ranked player ever signed at USF” since she was classified as the 6 th best center and the 34 th best player in America as a high school junior by the All-Star Girls Report . But her dreams of becoming an optometrist led her to transfer to NSU—a Division II school—which is the sole optometry school in Florida. Some of her successes include becoming NSU’s first Player of the Year in the Sunshine State Conference (SSC), the tournament’s most outstanding player in 2008, and a four-time SSC Player of the Week in 2011, which is an honor she has received 11 times in her playing career. Sarosi’s coaches believed she had the potential to play in the Women’s National Basketball Association; however, her fascination with the eye, which stems from her experience with dissecting a cow eye in the 11 th grade, led her to end her basketball career after her senior year. She describes winning the conference championship as the greatest moment in her athletic journey. S TEPHANIE S AROSI C LASS OF 2016 M IRANDA R ANIERI C LASS OF 2016 By Michelle Merida, Manager of Marketing Services Eye Site