2012 Grant and Scholarship Programs For Opticianry Students

HOYA Vision Care is offering Opticianry Students at NFOS Member Schools a chance to win a$500 Grant and an opportunity to qualify for a $2500 Scholarship. To be considered, students must be enrolled in the current academic year and submit an e-Poster on the Hoya Grant and Scholarship web site: http://www.hoyaeposters.com/index.asp

The e-Posters can explain lens options like Polarized or Photochromic lenses to patients. Students can also explain the various technologies like Free-Form Manufacturing or the importance of exact measurements when fitting today’s high performance progressive lenses to an optical staff.  Students can use either Microsoft’s PowerPoint or Open Office Presentation to upload their presentations to the web site.  The e-Posters can incorporate audio, animation, video and other special effects. See the web site for additional details.

 There will be one winner at each school and each winner will receive $500*. When a school has more than one entry, the independent Opticianry Panel will determine the winner at each school. The NFOS Member Opticianry Schools will be divided into three groups. Hoya Canada is also participating and will add their own group of schools including the two Canadian NFOS Members Schools. The winning posters will then be reviewed by an independent Opticianry Panel and an overall winner chosen from each group. The top winners from each of the four groups will be invited to the ABO-NCLE National Opticians Conference in Washington DC, November 1- 4, 2012.  Hoya will pick up their Registration, Airfare, Baggage charges, Transfers to and from the Airport and Hotel room for the meeting.  The four group winners will also receive $100 spending money and a Kindle Fire ePad at the Meeting. One of these four students will also receive a $2,500 Scholarship.

Judging will be based on originality, application of technology involved, product knowledge and overall analysis and composition. 

The e-posters must be posted on the website, by July 20, 2012.  The Grant winners from each school will be notified by August 20, 2012.  The individual winners from the four groups will be notified no later than September 15, 2012.  The Scholarship winner will be announced at the Hoya Awards Dinner on Friday November 2, 2012 at the ABO-NCLE Meeting. 

*One winner from each school, this assumes at least one submission from each school. Hoya reserves the publication rights to the winning ePosters.

HOYA Vision Care North America is sponsoring the program for the 30 NFOS Opticianry Schools in the United States  

HOYA Vision Care Canada is sponsoring the program for the selected Opticianry Schools in Canada.

Questions can be directed to mike.elton@hoyavision.com

Opticianry Summit - Your Input is Needed

You may have heard about an upcoming 'Opticianry Summit' scheduled for May 1-2, in Fairfax, Va. The event has been pulled together by a group of opticians, who have invited members of the various opticianry associations to discuss the future of our profession.  

According to the group, the summit is designed to enable participants to produce:

1) A shared vision of what opticianry should be by the year 2020 that includes but is not limited to: 

• A vision of the optician of the future and the competencies that person will need 
• A vision for an educational curriculum that prepares today's optician for the demands of tomorrow in order to provide better service to the public

2) A strategic plan containing: 

• Strategic goals and objectives
• Implementation steps that are practical and realistic with commitments of key players, organizations, corporations, schools, etc. who are at the Summit 

3) A plan for obtaining the commitment and engagement of those not at Summit

4) A process to monitor progress and make needed adjustments

5) A commitment to continued planning and progress in the years to come

The Opticianry Summit will have many of national and state leaders present at this event. However, we want to share as much input from opticians as possible. Therefore, we are asking that you participate in the pre-event survey using this link: CLICK HERE TO TAKE THE SURVEY. These surveys will be similar to those used onsite and their data will be used during the Summit.

After the summit, we will be reporting back on the finding and any next steps for our organization.  

For more information about the summit, visit www.opticianrysummit.com.

Thank you for input on this very important survey.

Why We Do What We Do - Opticians and  Opticianry Educators

If you have not  viewed this video or you need a boost, please take 3 minutes to view.

Thank you Essilor


The NFOS would like to thank Essilor for sponsoring your winter meeting February 9-11, 2012 in Dallas. The welcome reception, tours of Essilor facilities, the product education, and the dinner were all greatly appreciated and very informative. Special thanks go to Danne Ventura, Dr. Rod Tahran, and Dr. Howard Purcell for making the event happen.

Here is the Fall 2011 NFOS Newsletter