Goodwin College’s Vision Care Technology program recently had their 4th annual Paint Night fundraiser. Attendees included current students and their families, graduates and their families, staff and faculty from the college and their families, and some people from the community.
The Vision Care Technology program does this each year to raise money to help pay for transportation and registration to optical conferences. In the past students have gone to the Opticians Association of America‘s (OAA) Leadership conference (affectionately called Leadership) which is held in February. The program director and faculty strongly believe in getting students involved, encouraging them to take classes and workshops, and to meet opticians from around the country.We are hoping to send a few students to Leadership in Memphis, Tennessee, February 14-16, 2019 to meet opticians, partners, and to attend breakout sessions and networking events. Every time we return from the OAA Leadership conference, students have found it a worthwhile and valuable experience. In addition to Leadership, we would like to send students to OptiCon at Vision Expo East (VEE) to explore the vendor showroom floor, and attend many classes that will help support their studies and professional aspirations.
It’s a joy to see so many people come out to support our students, helping them to become the best optical professionals they can be. This year we painted a Peaceful Elephant and the paintings were beautiful! Everyone left with a striking painting to adorn their walls. I must admit, my office is starting to resemble a small art gallery.Elephants represent wisdom, strength, fidelity, and longevity. By developing our rising opticians in college classrooms, apprenticeships, or through corporate training programs, we are sharing wisdom and knowledge and strengthening our profession. We can work collectively like a herd of elephants, leading, guiding, protecting and strengthening each other. This profession has so much hope and promise! Let’s be the elephants in the room.
Often, when a new elephant is born, the herd will come with great excitement to welcome it. Imagine if we, as professionals, welcomed our newest with such grandeur! Let’s recognize and acknowledge every milestone such as passing the ABO/NCLE national certifications, college graduation, passing state boards, and attending continuing education courses. Let’s coach, support, and guide our coworkers just like the elephants.
