An enthusiastic crowd of students, faculty, staff, alumni and guests gathered on the Downtown Campus on Friday, April 11 to mark the 40th anniversary of the Opticianry Program at Reynolds Community College.
The first class of Opticianry students at Reynolds began
their studies in September of 1974 when the college was located in the former
Sydnor and Hundley building on West Grace Street between East First and East
Second Street. The program was housed in
the building’s basement and the office was in an old stock room. The only door was a rolling door and the
office also boasted an old coal chute on the wall. In spite of its humble
beginnings, the program graduated its first class of three students in June of
1976.
The initial program was as a diploma program, but it was
upgraded to an Associate of Applied Science (AAS) degree program in the spring
of 1977. This was critical as most states that had licensing only recognized
graduates from AAS degree programs to sit for their licensing examinations. By
1980, the program received its first accreditation from the Commission on
Opticianry Accreditation.
In 1981 when the Downtown Campus moved to its current
location on Jackson Street a larger space allocated to the Opticianry Program allowed
for surfacing, finishing, and dispensing labs, along with an on-campus eyeglass
clinic dedicated to Joe Stewart, the program’s first director.
The Opticianry program charted new territory in 2000 with
the implementation of the online AAS Degree program. This program enabled
students anywhere to take the program’s AAS degree via the Internet and remains
the only opticianry degree program in the United States to offer the entire
curriculum via distance learning.
A total of 374 students have graduated from the program, and
there have been awards along the way. Reynolds
Opticianry students have won the National Opticianry College Bowl, several
students have received the NAO Beverly Myers Award for research paper
submissions, grants for winning the Hoya E-Poster contests, scholarships from
Transitions Optical and scholarships to attend national education conferences
from the Contact Lens Society of America.
Students have also had papers published in professional journals and
served as student representatives on the board of the Opticians Association of
Virginia.
The gathering on April 11 celebrated not just the 374
students who graduated from the program, but the remarkable and dedicated
faculty and staff who worked to make the program a success and to build a
strong foundation for continued growth of the Opticianry Program into the
future. Reynolds Community
College….where outstanding opticians get started!
