VSP Vision News

VSP Vision News

VSP and AAOF Announce the 2022 Practice Excellence Scholarship Recipients

As part of our commitment to support the future of the profession, VSP Vision™, in partnership with the American Academy of Optometry Foundation (AAOF), is proud to announce the winners of the 2022 Practice Excellence Scholarship. The Practice Excellence Scholarship is a long-standing and prestigious scholarship that represents the very best in what optometry has to offer in patient care and practice management.

Every year, VSP® awards up to $4,000 each to two fourth-year students at every institution of optometry in the United States, Puerto Rico, and Canada. Scholarship recipients are selected based on the students’ commitment to enter the independent practice of optometry, and their clinical and academic performance.

This year, nearly $164,000 was awarded to 50 scholarship recipients. In addition to scholarship money, every winner received a travel grant to attend the American Academy of Optometry (AAO) annual meeting in October.

Meet the recipients of the 2022 Practice Excellence Scholarship:

• Chicago College of Optometry at Midwestern University— Hyein Kim & Michael Tran
• Illinois College of Optometry — Matthew Olijnyk & Tiffany Tsoi
• Indiana University School of Optometry — Sam Soda & Chad Herschberger
• Inter American University of Puerto Rico, School of Optometry — Caryssa Ingersoll & Gurpreet Kaur
• Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences — Rachel Fredericks & Westin Cohen
• Michigan College of Optometry at Ferris State University — Taylor Scheurer & Sarah DeVries
• Midwestern University Arizona College of Optometry — Crystal Eppling & Der Vang
• New England College of Optometry — Aseem Gogne & Antonia Lettrick
• Northeastern State University Oklahoma, College of Optometry — Kelli Schaedel & Aaron Meyer
• NOVA Southeastern University College of Optometry — Kha Duong & Mahsa Ardali
• The Ohio State University College of Optometry — Marissa Heary & Sam Calvert
• Pacific University College of Optometry — Shane Kinzer & Marienne Santa Elena
• Pennsylvania College of Optometry at Salus University — Beck Branton & Kelsey Miller
• University of the Incarnate Word Rosenberg School of Optometry — Craig Piacentino & Caroline Obermeier
• Southern California College of Optometry at Marshall B. Ketchum University —(Anne) Arah Cho & Bradley Salus
• Southern College of Optometry — Morgan Mathis & Sakshi Sata
• State University of New York College of Optometry — Courtney Allen & Tiffany Ying-Hsuan Chen
• University of Alabama at Birmingham — Jordan Carrington & Brooke Hubbard
• University of California-Berkeley, School of Optometry — Samantha Chan & Emmy Tian
• University of Houston College of Optometry — Karsen Hise & Paige Mohl
• University of Missouri -St. Louis, College of Optometry — Jacquelyn Bongard & Katie Kyles
• University of Montreal, School of Optometry — Odile Bérubé & Claudelle Jolicoeur
• University of Pikeville, Kentucky College of Optometry — Gabrielle Ault & Ashley Richmond
• University of Waterloo, School of Optometry and Vision Science — Jenny Lee & Amy Zhang
• Western University of Health Sciences College of Optometry — Mikala Herr & Crystal Sin

About the Scholarship

The scholarships are funded by VSP Vision and administered through the AAOF. Scholarship recipients must be a student member of the AAO. Each institution's Awards and Scholarship committee is tasked with selecting a pool of five business-minded students who meet the clinical and academic standards, and then choose two scholarship recipients.

For more information on how VSP supports the next generation of optometrists, visit the VSP Schools of Optometry page.