Hello Blogosphere!
Can you believe we’re halfway through 2013 already? I hope the year has been off to a great start for you. If you’ve had better days though, keep your chin up; you’ve still got the last half to really make it a special year!
Looking back on the spring semester, I realized that I never properly shared with you SCO’s annual Student Bowl competition. I blame this slight oversight on two little things called Final Exams and Pre-clinic Checkouts ;)
As you may recall, Student Bowl is organized by the AOSA Trustee (me!) and is a friendly jeopardy-style competition among students…yep, think full buzzer system and all! This year’s event featured 10 of the college’s brightest students from the first, second, and third-year classes. The night also boasted record attendance for the second year in a row as students overcrowded yet another SCO auditorium. There were over 200 students that came out to support and cheer on their classmates. What a sight! There’s no doubt SCO’s new classroom building can’t be built soon enough; we’re clearly busting at the seams!
Expectations were set high as first-year anatomical sciences professor, aka emcee extraordinaire Dr. Daniel Taylor, not only donned a tuxedo, but masterfully brought the night’s entertainment full of quips and jokes. He even created an interactive Xtranormal movie that was every bit Dr. Evil meets Inspector Gadget to introduce the rules of the game. Check out his video on YouTube here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qO0tYV4NRY
In between rounds, AOSA gave away $350 travel grants for students to attend Optometry’s Meeting (OM), held a fun mini-bowl for five lucky audience members to compete for a travel grant, and the OM Spirit Coordinator revealed this year’s SCO’s Spirit Theme for the Varilux Student Bowl at OM2013…Memphis “Blues!” Can you imagine it already?! All of SCO’s students attending the national Student Bowl competition wearing blue from head to toe–blue face paint, blue wigs, blue morphsuits, blue t-shirts, blue guitars–we’ll be one-step away from a smurf, lol. The spirit judges definitely won’t be able to miss us!
In the end, Student Bowl victory came to SCO third year, Brandon Hadel. As champion, Brandon will represent SCO at the national Varilux Student Bowl Competition at OM2013. All of SCO is excited to see how far Brandon will go in the national competition; we’re sure he’ll flex his optometric muscle and give the other schools a good run for their money! Here are some photos from SCO’s Student Bowl 2013:
And for those of you interested in the man-behind-the quick buzzer skills, the National AOSA recently highlighted SCO’s Student Bowl Champ in the below bio…
“Look out San Diego, Mr. Brandon Hadel ’14 is about to out dunk the Student Bowl competition. A lifelong Jay Hawker, Brandon will forever bleed crimson & blue. As one classmate marveled about Brandon, ‘Anything and everything he does is successful.’ While Brandon’s optometric interests involve the cornea and contact lenses, you’ll likely not find him specializing in any one made of practice because he believes each of his patients is special. Brandon is extremely excited to represent Southern College of Optometry at the national Student Bowl where he knows everything about buzzer pushing and has the quickest hands around! As Brandon reflected on himself, “If my [student bowl] performance inspires any practicing doctors out there looking to hire… I’m ready to listen!”
Now you are all caught up! Optometry’s Meeting will held June 26-June 30, so I’m in full AOSA planning mode until then. I’m looking forward to cheering on Brandon in sunny San Diego alongside my classmates!
Carpe Diem,
Amy