Western Regional Conference- My first highlight from my first year at SCCO was attending the Western Regional Conference. Every year Western Regional Conference is hosted by one of the three optometry schools in California, and this past year it was hosted at SCCO. This event happened during our very first quarter of school and was such a fun, informative, and great experience. Some highlights from the event were listening to panelists discussing different career modalities within optometry, pop-up sessions featuring topics like residency and infantSEE, a networking lunch session where we could ask questions to a practicing OD, and a wine and cheese networking social! There was also a young OD social offered at the Lido House in Newport where students from SCCO, Berkeley, and Western were all bused to the location! It was a wonderful time and I learned so much!
AOA on Capitol Hill- Another highlight of my first year was attending AOA on Capitol Hill. This is an event where students and doctors meet with state legislators to discuss issues within optometry such as legislation that affects us and our patients. During the weekend there were many panels and education sessions that served to help us learn how to discuss talking points with legislators and understand the continued importance of optometry’s voice in legislation. I was paired with New Jersey as a student advocate along with two of my classmates, and it was such an eye-opening experience to learn about the differences in optometry’s scope of practice in different states. The AOA offers grants for students to attend this event by covering flight and accommodation costs, so it was a no-brainer to take part in this experience. I had never been to the East Coast before, and neither had most of my classmates who also attended this trip, so it was such a memorable experience to be able to explore Washington DC together during our time off between advocacy and networking sessions.
Getting food with my friends!- While this is not a single event, some of my all-time favorite memories of my first year just include eating with my friends. After a hard midterm or final, we’d frequent a couple of the same places and get breakfast burritos. For lunch, we’d often stop at Sprouts, who offer awesome create-your-own sandwiches for a pretty cheap price, and they can toast them too! During the day if we ever needed a pick me up we’d all pile into one car and go get some boba or coffee together. During long nights studying we developed a habit of running quickly to In and Out or Chick-fil-A for a late-night meal. It was these moments where we could all just be together and enjoy some good eats that motivated me to finish each quarter of my first year strong.
