Opticianry Students

[Laurie]

Hello Optiboarders!

We are now up and running with our distance degree program, and I am happy to report that we have about 25 new students (half are completely Internet students, the other half are video-teleconference students). We still have our "regular in-house" students as well.

I am giving the students a homework assignment which involves you, our happy (sometimes dysfunctional) family! : )

I have asked the students to log onto this site, as well as the NFOS site bulletin board to interview an optician. I am here to ask you to give them your support and encouragement. Any funny stories (like being sent out for a "lens stretcher" when you began) would be a hoot!

Many of the students are already in the field, and this is a great way to link them up with our nation's best!

Thank you in advance,

Laurie "mumma" Pierce

[EyeManFla]

COOL.....FRESH MEAT......Bring 'em on...... :D

[Sheila]

Okay...

I'm a student, but not through this program. I have a question that I'm guessing will get a few snickers, but I'm curious. What is a "lens stretcher?" A myth or some type of initiation perhaps? I'd love to hear those stories.

~Sheila

[Blake]

Originally posted by Sheila:
Okay...

I'm a student, but not through this program. I have a question that I'm guessing will get a few snickers, but I'm curious. What is a "lens stretcher?" A myth or some type of initiation perhaps? I'd love to hear those stories.

~Sheila

Sheila,
A lens stretcher is a device that allows us to put a patient's old scratched up lenses in a new frame after their 15 year old, 90% corroded frame has broken beyond all possible repair. We just "stretch", or shrink, the lens to the appropriate size. You may be wondering how this would affect the PD, seg ht., etc... Well, the truth is it screws it up big time, but the patient's Rx is so old they'll never notice!
At my shop, we keep this instrument right next to the "Buff-o-matic" that we use to buff scratches off plastic lenses. :-)

(note: I am only joking!)

Blake

[harry a saake]

We keep it next to the box of optical centers.

[Steve Machol]

Now let's play nice everyone! :)

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OptiBoard Administrator

[chip anderson]

It may not be as much fun as a lens stretcher, but you can really have some fun if you take a plastic ruler, heat it and stretch it. Then leave it for some unsuspecting co-worker to find.

[Alan W]

Yes . .. ahem (excuse me while I adjust my lab coat and clear my throat . . . there that's better!)
As I recall . . .yes . . . it was about 19and seventeeeeee one. Victory Optical was distributing its (ahem) infamous cr39 lenses that turned yellow and a few other things. It was also a nasty tendency for them to uhhhhhh . . . shrink alittle?
Yes . . . . (ahem) so weeee of a higher "ilk" like Darris and me, or I, modified a B&L tempering machine (the one that launched a hot lens across the room on exit). At lower temperatures we caught the sucker in orbit on exit with a lens rotating tool and gave it a little squeeze which sqwished it out oh, not more than a half a mil or so. But, that did the trick. The lens just snapped in to the ol Metzler . . . 'course, that ignited the cellulose nitrate . . huh, sent up a plume straight up t'the ol ceiling, but that's another story......... a lens stretcher :)

[Jeff Trail]

HEY guys save the "new meat" stuff for yourself!!... I SIGNED UP FOR SOME OF THOSE CLASSES!!!!! :) .. try those "find me a box of optical centers" or " get me the vertical imbalance blocker" for some rookies..
NOW since this is the first thing we were supposed to do, get some feed back from you guys, make it short and sweet... something I can cut and paste and then ship it off to Laurie so I CAN GET AN A... :)
BTW alot of this stuff is just "review" stuff for me, some of you guys might be interested in some of the classes as well.. I look at it this way, no one knows it all and if you can get into a class that might improve you then it's well worth the time..
I'm looking towards the refraction part of the classes as well as some of the classes more towards the medical side of what we do..
Should get a list of classes that are being offered and maybe take a couple in an area you maybe lacking in..
Hey I even signed up for Ophthalmics 1 and Dispensing 1 .. but Physiology of the eye is really the one I'm going to find interesting.
I think I know a few things about optics :) but I'm still willing to go back to school.. from some of the postings I have read here over the years some of you other guys might need to "brush" up on some stuff as well!!! :)

Jeff "doesn't know it all but I'm willing to try" Trail :)
(and not afraid to TAKE the classes and time to do it)

[Texas Ranger]

Jeff, admire your willingness. What did you have to d to sign up? You're already in Florida. I have about 50 sem. hours of courses, will that transfer? Have about 450 CEC hours, don't know whether they'd help?
Al.

p.s. Where seabrook, texas?

[Jeff Trail]

Al,

You see who started this thread? Laurie Pierce .. E-M her.. she is an instructor at Hillsborough ...That or you can look up Bill Underwood (department head)
The school is over in Tampa but all the classes are being done through the internet or via tapes (mixture of both)
I also have a degree in computer graphics/advertising and will be transferring a lot of that stuff to fill up the electives required.. Bill and Laurie are also working hard towards us getting accredited hours towards the degree as well.. that part hasn't been ironed out yet so since I had to pay for all the hours anyway I am going ahead and just taking them all while they get that part solved..
PLUS I got to get MORE books to add to my ever growing piles of optical "garbage" (as my wife likes to call it) E-M Laurie and see what they can do..we had a wide selection of people taking the classes.. I figure more the "bett'a" :).. have one of my employee's going next week for orientation and possibly two more from local accounts..
So far the Physiology of the eye, looks to be the biggest benefit to me for this semester, the other classes are fairly basic, atleast for me.
Drop Laurie a line or Bill, both have been great to work with and I hope more people on this "sight" take some of the classes.. I know a lot of us kind of lack when it comes to the medical side in experience and this is a pretty good way to expand your base to work from..and , as much as you hate to admitt it, sponsorship is good but you probably still missed out on alot of the theoretical stuff that you get from the classes. I know a LOT of the "lic." people call me often with questions that they should really know the answer to.. so I could see where even those guys (Lic.) could get some well needed background help in optical theory..Sponsorship is nice, but lets face it, the VAST majority are not going to learn more then what the person teaching them knows, then that person passes it along with just a little less knowledge, till the guys a couple layers down are not really getting the full benefit..I know this for a fact with some of the questions I get from my accounts
If you are just going to sign up for certain classes to round out your hours so far then you might even get by without having to travel there. The web site that we work through WebCT is very easy to understand and use..

I say go for it.. what the heck, education never hurt anyone (unless you dropped a book on your head) :)

Jeff "come one come all.. sign up ya chickens" Trail

[This message has been edited by Jeff Trail (edited 08-30-2000).]

[selina]

Hi Jeff,
I am one of the students in the program, and I have to agree with you about the sponsorship programs. I was an apprentice for a year, I knew my work, but even in this first week of class, I am finding out that i wasn't taught everything I should have been. This is an excellent program, and I like you think alot of people could learn from it.
I posted my questions, but no one seems interested in answering them. Should I post them on this thread? I don't want to get a bad grade.

selina

[Jeff Trail]

Selina,

I started another thread as well as Laurie's thread and and tryed to get as many people to answer as possible.. mainly hoping that everyone could cut and paste from just a couple of threads.. I didn't want to see everyone wasting bandwidth on this sight by all of us posting fairly simular questions. these guys would probably only answer them in one or two threads instead of repeating it over and over...
I would hope that each of us (students) would read the contributions of the threads already posted and see what type of questions were asked.. then if they (students) did have a question that hasn't already been asked but was curious they would ask that and not do a repeat :)
I'm sure Laurie wouldn't mind if we used the same "group" of posting for our general source of information and expand on those postings with our personal interpretation
Just a thought.. might want to ask Laurie if it is OK to do it that way :)

Jeff " sometimes the shortest way between 2 points is not a str8t line" Trail.. Mobius strip here I come.. :)

[julie woodruff]

Hi Selina and Jeff! I have been surfing the web all night and have found so many interesting things about Opticianry. I posted a job posting on the NFOS bulletin board and will writed one for the OPTiboard.

I am really enjoying all our classes. The distance learning idea is fantastic. By being able to work in a hands on environment while taking classes the coursework doesn't seem dry.

After reading a posting about distance learning it seems that some seasoned opticians are upset with the whole "distance learning" thing. The should check into the whole learning process before mocking the education process.

[Terry]

Hello,
My name is Terry Adams and I am one of the lucky students to be apart of Lauri Pierce and Bill Underwood's Distance Learning Opticianry program. I first became interested in Opticianry when I begin to think about what I will be doing in 7 1/2 years when I retire from the Marine Corps. I would like to step out of one highly respected profession and jump straight into another.
On a personal note, for sometime now I have had a passion for wanting to help people see themselves and see the world in which they live in with more clarity, through focused eyes and change those things that need to be changed (individually and socially). With this (new found sight) making a better people, a better society, a better world.

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Terry T. Adams IV

[nancy lee]

Hey, Laurie I am one of your students. I have been in the optical field for five years. I work for a large optical chain. I decided to go to school for two years & get a degree as well as a license in opticianry
I considered apprenticing but that would take 3-5 years. I have great opticians in my store. They all have so much knowledge - I learn from them daily. I want more information, I love working with people & trying to solve their optical problems as well as their frame & lens selection. We have a great team at our store. I have learned so much in two weeks..things are making sense. I look forward to the next two years of learning. Nancy from Orlando

[selina]

Hi Julie,

I am glad to hear that everything is going so well for you, i too have learned so many things off of the two links together.
I am enjoying class , and looking forward to learning more. Laurie and Bill seem to really know their stuff, that is a quality in teachers that I have not seen in a long time, I appreciate a good leader.
GOOD LUCK WITH THE JOB POSTING!!!!
KEEP IN TOUCH,
SELINA

[Sheila]

"So far the Physiology of the eye, looks to be the biggest benefit to me for this semester.

Jeff "come one come all.. sign up ya chickens" Trail"

Are you all going to disect an eye also? We're going to be doing a cow's eye. I once disected a sheep's eye and thought it was pretty cool, so I'm looking forward to it.

~Sheila

[This message has been edited by Sheila (edited 09-03-2000).]

[This message has been edited by Sheila (edited 09-03-2000).]

[Ann Blake]

Hello OptiBoarders!

I am a newbie to this board, however, I am not new to the optical world. Twenty-two years ago, I married an optician! His love for this field is contagious. I am finally going to get licensed thanks to the innovation and hard work of Bill U. and Laurie P. at HCC in Tampa, FL.

May I ask you all a couple of questions? :)
1. Do you literally stop the car and look at optical shops, no matter where you are?
2. Do you have uncontrollable urges to "adjust" crooked glasses on perfect strangers?
3. Do you play this little game of naming frames on actors and actresses in the movies?

Thanks,
Ann

[Rich R]

Absolutely on you're question #2, it bothers me when I see someone in public with a frame that's out of adjustment, I do get the urge to straighten them out.
Rich R