The first-ever Midwestern Regional Conference was held in September of 2023. This conference was modeled off the current Western Regional conference that occurs on the West Coast. This new conference welcomed schools from all over the Midwestern region. The first night was a networking event that was graciously sponsored by MyEyeDr.
MRC had a wonderful group of keynote speakers that included, from left, Jeni Kohn, O.D., Dana Shannon, O.D., Robert Layman, O.D., Claire Saylor and Micheal Ciszek, O.D.
These speakers provided students with insights about the profession, how to utilize current resources available for students, why advocacy is so important in optometry, how to give back and volunteer in optometry, and also how to effectively network.
We continued the day with an AOA+ Leadership Link lunch, where students were able to network with current doctors in the field and had the opportunity to pick their minds about anything within optometry.
Pop-up sessions included: Residency forum featuring current and former residents, Contact lens with emphasis on looking at scleral lenses, tinting and prosthetics, InfantSEE® program with the help of CCO faculty’s babies, and Sports vision included different games and the use of sports vision technology and therapy that is used.
These pop-up sessions were a huge hit for students and their favorite part of the conference! A huge thank you to all who helped with these sessions.
After the pop-up sessions, students had the opportunity to network more with different industry partners within the profession during the exhibit hall. Finally, students had the opportunity to head over to PuttShack to enjoy a fun ending to the first-ever Midwestern Regional Conference!
Be on the lookout for where the next MRC will be hosted, and don’t miss out on this opportunity!
