Saturday, April 29, 2017

Kandace Alfred earns 2017 Memorable Conversations Scholarship

UMSL Daily

Kandace Alfred is in the third year of the Doctor of Optometry program at UMSL, which she says she chose in part because of the family feel that she picked up on during her application and interview process. (Design by Wendy Allison. Images courtesy of Kandace Alfred)
Developing a passion for optometry wasn’t something Kandace Alfred ever planned on when she was growing up in Slidell, Louisiana – roughly 33 miles outside New Orleans.
Instead, it was something she discovered largely by chance.
“I needed a job during college, and through an odd series of events I ended up as an optical associate at Sears Optical,” says Alfred, who is now a student in the Doctor of Optometry program at the University of Missouri­–St. Louis. “During my time there, I fell in love with the patients and the profession. I worked at Sears Optical for three and a half years before starting optometry school. Happenstance is the motif of my life.”
Alfred’s video starts off with an homage to her hometown of Slidell, Louisiana.
Now that she’s three years into having swapped Slidell for St. Louis because of the student ambassadors, small class size and intimate, family feeling she felt at UMSL, Alfred says that happenstance has been at play again.
This time, it’s pointed her towards funds for study.
Alfred found the Memorable Conversations Scholarship – a joint effort between the group ODs on Facebook and patient education software developer Rendia – while browsing social media.
“ODs on Facebook is a private group of approximately 30,000 optometrists, optometry students, opticians and anyone working in the optometric profession,” explains Alfred. “Tough and interesting clinical cases are shared as well as funny patient stories, equipment and practices for sale, et cetera.
“The scholarship was posted sometime in December during our winter finals. I saw the post, then completely forgot about ...

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