Fifty Indianapolis, Indiana, high school students interested in careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) will be introduced to optometry as a career at the Future Focus on Optometry Program.
The program coincides with the American Academy of Optometry (AAO) meeting and is coordinated to the AAO Foundation, the AAO’s diversity committee, the National Optometric Association, Black Eyecare Perspective and the American Schools and Colleges of Optometry. The students are enrolled at Crispus Attucks High School, a public medical magnet school with a 97% minority enrollment and a strong reputation for academic excellence.
Chair Sherrol Reynolds, OD, FAAO, says this is the third year of the program, and it has grown each time in the number of high school participants. “We are working to introduce the profession of optometry earlier to students. This event is all about planting the seeds to get them thinking about what the profession is all about and the steps to getting here,” Dr. Reynolds says. Rachel “Stacey” A. Coulter, OD, MS, FAAO, FCOVD, the AAOF president, and Brad Sutton, OD, of Indiana University (IU) School of Optometry, will also be on hand to welcome and greet the students. Indiana University School of Optometry’s Associate Director for Student Services Kim Kohne, OD, FAAO, will share some fundamentals about optometric education.
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Dr. Reynolds says that she is particularly excited that previous attendees are coming back as peer mentors, In addition, three area optometrists who attended Crispus Attucks School are going to be on a panel to talk to the students: Antonio Turner Sr.; Allyson Fisher, OD; and Rolando Mendoza, OD.
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THE MENTORS
Nicole D. Pogue, OD, FAAO, of New England College of Optometry and committee member for the event, is coordinating with nearly a dozen ODs who will be attending as a mentor for some parts of the event. Other mentors expected are:
- Alexia Clark, OD, Director, Belonging, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at Nova Southeastern University College of Optometry;
- Melissa Contreras, OD, MPH, Marshall B. Ketchum University;
- Vondolee Delgado-Nixon, PhD, Chief Diversity Officer at The Ohio State University College of Optometry;
- Keshia S. Elder, OD, FAAO, dean of the College of Optometry at the University of Missouri–St. Louis (UMSL);
- Lucy Kehinde-Darnell, PhD, OD, University of Houston College of Optometry;
- Janette Pepper, OD, FCOVD, FAAO; Southern College of Optometry;
- Angel Scanzera, OD, MPH, FAAO, FSLS, University of Illinois Chicago;
- Angel Simmons, OD, UMSL;
- Anne Tasaki, OD, University of California Berkeley School of Optometry; and
- Brittany Wright, OD, MS, FAAO, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
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Read other WO stories on diversity and representation:
Promoting Belonging and Diversity Despite Legislative Pushback with Dr. Alexia Clark
