Hi y’all! :)
I’m officially a 4th-year optometry student!!! How crazy! It’s such a bittersweet feeling to be completely done with my didactic career at SCO. Yes, I’m very very excited to no longer have to take an SCO exam again but I’m also extremely sad that time has gone so quickly. I just cannot believe that I’ve already been in Memphis three years and have taken hundreds of exams at the school. A lot of my classmates are no longer on campus because they have headed out to their fourth-year externships. I, however, will be staying in Memphis for my first rotation at the Eye Center- so my official goodbye to Memphis will be in August. :(
At the end of third-year, we had a much needed two-week break. I went home, to Florida, and enjoyed some much-needed family and beach time with my husband! It was so much fun! This trip was a special one because while I was home, NBEO part 1 scores were released and I found out that I PASSED!!! It had been six weeks since we took the exam so figuring out the results was a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. After a wonderful trip home, it was much easier to head back to Memphis knowing there are only three more months before moving to Florida- near family! I’m so excited to enjoy these last few months in Memphis. I will be soaking up every minute! (Especially now that studying is finally over)
Externships are such an exciting time! As I’ve mentioned in my previous blog post, I will be rotating through the Daytona Beach VA hospital in the fall semester and then Coastal Vision private practice in Fernandina Beach, FL in the spring. I’m really excited about the clinical experience I’ll be receiving at those sites. I’m grateful that SCO requires an institutional rotation as well as a private practice rotation because I am sure they will be very different from one another. I have heard that the VA hospital will provide a lot of additional experience, particularly in ocular disease and I am excited to learn more about how to run a private practice while in Fernandina Beach- since my goal is to be in private practice post-graduation.
As of right now, I am two days into my SCO externship. Yesterday I spent half of my day in low vision clinic and the other half in vision therapy. Today I was at one of SCO’s satellite clinics at the University of Memphis (in a more private practice setting). Tomorrow, I will be in pediatric clinic. Each area of the clinic is so unique and provides such a great learning experience. It’s definitely been an adjustment to get used to clinic all day, every day and no classes but I have been loving it so far. I’m sure it’ll take a few weeks to get fully adjusted but I’m super excited about what the rest of the summer has in store.
I’ll make sure to keep you updated about how externs turn out…for now, here is a picture of my last first day of school, ever! :)
