Many high school and college students contact VOSH to ask how to get involved with optometry before they actually attend optometry school. While VOSH does not have a program specific to pre-optometry, we can offer this advice:
- Join or start a pre-med club or pre-health professional club that meets regularly. Ask a faculty member from your school to supervise. Here are some activities or programs you might consider: Tour an local optometrist’s office, arrange a guest optometrist to come talk to your club, collect gently used sunglasses to donate to a VOSH trip-especially kid’s sunglasses (donate to your local VOSH chapter).
- Go on an international VOSH trip or participate in a domestic eye care outreach! You do not need to be an OD. We have a lot of significant and meaningful work for lay volunteers on a VOSH trip. Contact the trip coordinator: http://voshke.wpenginepowered.com/get-involved/clinics-by-date/
- Get involved with domestic humanitarian efforts through Remote Area Medical http://ramusa.org/ or California Care Force https://www.californiacareforce.org/
- Contact and collaborate with a a VOSH Student Chapter in your area: http://voshke.wpenginepowered.com/chapters/student-chapters/
- Check out and Like VOSH/International’s Facebook page to get all the latest news on humanitarian eye care: h
ttps://www.facebook.com/vosh.org - Check out and Like Optometry Giving Sight’s Student Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/students4sight/.
- Participate in Optometry Giving Sight’s World Sight Day challenge: http://www.givingsight.org/giving/world-sight-day-challenge.html
- Contact the American Optometric Student Association. They have a lot of useful information on their website: https://theaosa.org/membership/pre-optometry-student-membership/
