HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS GET A JUMP ON A CAREER IN OPTOMETRY

.....AND HELP THEIR CLASSMATES TO BETTER VISION

balonso@MiamiHerald.com

Students at Felix Varela High School in Kendall have no excuses when they cannot read what the teacher writes on the board.

Because in a corner classroom on the first floor, 60 students and one enthusiastic teacher are eager to make them a free pair of eyeglasses in 15 minutes or less.

The students are enrolled in the Optometric Assisting program, one of the four programs that make up the school's Academy of Health Science and Medicine.

Led by David Thomas, who operated an optometric office in South Miami for 20 years before joining Varela's teaching staff nine years ago, the Optometric Assisting program extensively prepares students for a career in optometry.

The students are provided with the opportunity to learn how to operate just about every machine needed for a basic eye exam.

And the machines get used. Thomas' large classroom has been transformed into a full-fledged laboratory with a sign-in desk at the front, a small examination room in the back and rows of different machines used to test color vision, check for glaucoma or shave the edges off a glass lens, just to name a few.

While they always recommend a professional eye exam, the students work diligently testing the vision of their peers as part of their ``campaign to have every student at Varela see well,'' Thomas said.

Since the school year began, they have created and distributed glasses to about 40 students, and they are equipped for many more.

``It feels really great,'' said 18-year-old senior Melissa Crespo, who enrolled in the program her freshman year. ``Last year, a girl came to us who couldn't see at all. When we gave [the glasses] to her, she was super excited and now, she's always wearing them.''

Their campaign for better vision does not stop at the doors of the school.

For the last four years, the students of the Optical Assisting program have sent at least 200 pairs of eyeglasses collectively to South Africa, Ghana, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, and this year, India.

The glasses are distributed by the nonprofit organization, Unified for Global Healing, as they work to provide health care and social services around the world.

A large photo of an older South African woman wearing her first pair of eyeglasses and smiling from ear to ear sits in Thomas' classroom and constantly reminds the students how much their work is worth.

``It's really heartwarming,'' said 16-year-old Edwin Gaitan, a junior who said his lifelong dream of becoming a surgeon has been changing since he enrolled in Optical Assisting.

According to Thomas, that is one of his only goals.

``Most [students] come into the Academy already wanting to be in the medical profession, but if we can just get a few students to go into the optical field, then that's great,'' he said.