Hello June!!!

Happy Summer everyone! I have been missing in action ever since school has been let out for summer, can you blame me? I feel so alive and happy to be stress free! Although, I find myself still wanting to learn and be on campus. I actually have been on campus 6-8 times since school has let out, believe it or not. :) I have been a part of a research study for dry eye patients. You are compensated for your time and learn more about the subject matter of your own eyes. I just can't stay away from school. I want to hopefully refract a lot of my no-SCCO friends over the summer to make sure I don't forget over the summer. It's funny how once you learn a skill, you want to constantly practice it so you can master it. I associate it with learning to play the piano. When I first learned to play, I couldn't stop practicing.

Most of my classmates are traveling for the summer. This is our only summer break so...I suggest you do the same. As for me, I am trying to find work and learn as much as I can. I am also trying to RELAX and just take in the beauty of life. I will fly back home to TX towards the middle of the summer, but for now, I just want to work. :)

If you have any questions at all please leave it in the comments box! I will be sure to repsond quicker since I have nothing to study :p

1st year of Optometry schoo--> COMPLETED!!!

It feels so wonderful to watch tv guilt-free!!!
These past two weeks of finals and proficiencies were rough, but managable.  I am so excited for Summer!!!! 
Thanks for following me through my first year! It only gets more challenging from here and I hope that you will follow me all the way to graduation!

Visual Acuity Project Madness!

Hey guys,

I forgot to include some photos from our visual acuity projects for our psychophysics class. We had to create our own VA charts, caluclate and size it accordingly, determine the patient population we wanted to design it for, determine the type of contrast sensitivity we wanted, the type of optotype (letters, numbers, symbols) we wanted to use, size, testing distances, illumination levels, etc. The list goes on! To summarize, making an acuity chart is not as easy as it looks. My partner and I made a near-vision acuity chart to screen for amblyopia in children under 6 years of age, with 90% contrast, at a testing distance of 75cm.

A Taste of SCCO Student Life

A apologize for being M.I.A with my blogs. We basically have no more reading week, because now it is basically 2 weeks of finals. We have a clinical methods proficiency on Monday, a neurophysiology lab practical ( I've never had to memorize so many neuronal pathways that i didn't even know existed!), and our first final, clinical medicine.  The week after we have ophthalmic optics, neurophysiology lecture, clinical methods, and psychophysics finals.  Doesn't sound intimidating for you? Don't worry, they guarantee that it will only get worse from here. First year, is suppose to be the simplest out of the first three years. :(  See you after finals!


Here is a great open house video summary of the student life here at SCCO. This video was presented at this year's Spring Admissions Open House. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s33AINgoiU0

 

 

Been awhile

Hi Guys,

It's been a busy month! Sorry I have not blogged in awhile. School is getting progressively difficult and I just want to stay on top of things:)

3 proficiencies: Lensometry (not hard), Schematic eye retinoscopy, and Case History

4 exams so far and still more to come...

I am counting down the days till summer break..our only summer break!

We had an amazing End of the Year Banquet @ Turnip Rose in Costa Mesa. Here are some photos!

wow...what a week so far

WOW.  This week we had 2 exams and a lab practical. I am surprisingly not feeling as stressed as I was during winter quarter. I guess because I have been keeping up with the lecture material.  I know for sure the second round of midterms I will not feel as calm because I was unable to re-read each lecture while studying for the first midterms of the quarter and proficiencies.  It WILL get harder...and I will stress later. haha.

 Clinical Methods Lab
Today in lab we learned about manifest refraction.  I did my first refraction in 20 minutes. It was a LONG grueling 20 minutes. Dr.Stark, my lab instructor, mentioned that explaining it would be difficult to understand, but actually applying the concept would be easier to understand. He was right, because I was trying to follow the manual and I got very lost!  It was very exciting though! We have to manifest 3 of our classmates by the next lab session. 

Extremely busy 2 weeks!

Hello eye bloggers!!!

It is going to be a rough two weeks!  We just had our first psychophysics midterm, and our first proficiency.  For our proficiency, we had to hand neutralize a pair of sphero-cylinder glasses and a pair of sphero-cylinder bifocal glasses in 25 minutes or less!!! I practiced so much I was seeing double!!! But it paid off because I did well! 

I also wanted to mention that our school, SCCO is having it's annual Spring Admissions Open House on April 17th, 2010 from 8:30AM-12:30PM.  If you would like to make your reservation please email Betty at bsanchez@scco.edu.  This is a great opportunity to meet SCCO students and faculty and explore the campus!  

These next two weeks we have 4 midterms, one lab practical and a clinical case , a visual acuity project, and a case hx proficiency!

We also are learning retinoscopy!!!! It was so exciting to use the phoropter for the first time!!!