Happy Academic New Year!
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A Message from ASCO President Dr. Elizabeth Hoppe
Happy Academic New Year!
For those of us with career paths in optometric education, this is a very special time of year when we welcome new incoming students and reconnect with returning students who are advancing in the curriculum. It’s an exciting time of the year when we get to start fresh with new energy. It’s a time when we can renew our commitment to creating the future of our profession through excellence in education.
The new academic year gives us all the opportunity to try new strategies in teaching and learning, to implement new technologies and to advance the art and science of education. It is always fun to see the enthusiastic learners coming into the first year of the curriculum with all of the excitement that they bring.
With the new academic year upon us, I want to share with you news that will hopefully positively impact the future classes of all our optometric institutions. In March, ASCO launched its public awareness campaign Optometry Gives Me Life. This campaign is reaching college-aged students majoring in STEM programs who may not be aware of all the wonderful things the field of optometry has to offer through social and paid media, direct mail, the www.futureeyedoc.org landing page, posters and other materials.
The Optometry Gives Me Life campaign seeks to increase the quantity, quality and diversity of the applicant pool, thereby ensuring the vitality of our profession through the preparation of the highest caliber of future health care providers.
I hope you will get on board with the Optometry Gives Me Life campaign! There are many things you can do to help support the campaign, whether you are in an academic setting, a private or group practice or practice optometry in a different way.
Follow this link to view materials that ASCO is offering free of charge.
Please consider displaying the posters of the featured ODs in your clinic, waiting room or hallways of your institution. Offer the campaign brochure in a reading area of your office. These materials are perfect as handouts at career fairs and career days for kids wanting to learn more. For free materials, contact ASCO staff Paige Pence at ppence@opted.org or Kimberly O’Sullivan at kosullivan@opted.org.
We have had a lot of great ideas about ways to use these materials when our member institutions are engaging with their alumni and clinical preceptors. You can use these materials for presentations to the community, and don’t forget to coordinate with student clubs and organizations and student-led service learning projects!
How about making Optometry Gives Me Life part of your Academic New Year’s Resolution this year?
