Happy Saturday, readers! It has been an eventful and exciting few weeks for the class of 2017 here at SCO. Between the excitement of receiving our white coats at the White Coat Ceremony & Convocation two weekends ago and the relief of making it through our first round of exams and lab practicals, we have learned a lot in the past few weeks about what it is like to actually be an optometry student.
After a hard week of studying, the ceremony served as a reminder of the wonderful community that we are now a part of. It was nice to take a step back and remember that what we are working toward is much larger than one difficult course, one tricky lab, or even our time as optometry students – we’re entering a community of optometric physicians that we will be a part of for the rest of our lives. The speeches were heartwarming, the honored individuals were inspiring, and the ceremony was beautiful. Congratulations, classmates!
One of the best parts of the weekend for a lot of the first year students was having some of our loved ones come to Memphis. For most of us, it was the first time we had seen our family since we moved here. Lots of catching up to do! None of my family members who came to the ceremony had ever been to Memphis before, so we had a fun weekend full of sight-seeing around this cool city. After three days full of Memphis BBQ, Beale Street, the Mississippi River, and SCO festivities we said goodbye for another couple of months. It meant a lot to me that they were able to come support me on that exciting day, and I wore my white coat with pride knowing that I would never be here without the support of my loved ones.
The studying picked right back up again after our families headed back home, and we finished up our first long “chunk” of exams earlier this week. While it would be nice if there were just a few more hours in the day, we are all doing our best to keep our heads above the water and I know that we will all get some much needed rest and relaxation over Thanksgiving break! As you can see from the photo below, my Louie is a wonderful study buddy. He gives us something to laugh about during the long nights of studying!
I am planning on posting again in a week or so about students working part-time jobs or work study positions during optometry school – please feel free to comment if there’s anything else you’d like me to discuss about being a first year here at SCO! Thanks again for reading.