ST. LOUIS.—Optometry Cares ̶ The AOA Foundation invites third-year optometry students (class of 2015) to submit an essay for each of two scholarships—the Dr. Seymour Galina Grant and the InfantSEE Scholarship Grant. The winner of the 2014 Dr. Seymour Galina Grant will receive an award of $2,500. The winning essay of the 2014 InfantSEE Scholarship Grant will be awarded $5,000, and the runner-up will receive $2,500. The Dr. Seymour Galina Grant was established at the bequest of the late Dr. Seymour Galina, an AOA member. The InfantSEE Scholarship Grant is underwritten by Vision West, Inc.

Applicants for both scholarships must be third-year students in good academic standing in their school or college of optometry and members in good standing in the American Optometric Student Association and the American Optometric Association.

For the Dr. Seymour Galina Grant, students must submit an essay of 1,500 words or less in English on the topic of “qualities I have developed through my financial planning/work experience during and/or before optometry school that I believe will be most useful to me in a professional optometric practice.”

The paper for the InfantSEE Scholarship must be 1,000 words or less in English answering each of the following questions: What have you done as a student to prepare yourself to become an active participant as an InfantSEE provider? How have your clinical experiences directly contributed to your development as a future participant in the InfantSEE program, and how would you translate these experiences into clinical practice as an InfantSEE provider? How would you personally promote the InfantSEE program, and what do you envision as the most effective method of marketing the importance of infant vision as an entry point into a lifetime of eyecare at a state and national level?

Applicants can check with their student affairs office to determine their on-campus deadline for submissions. Each institution will select one candidate for the Dr. Seymour Galina Grant and one for the InfantSEE Scholarship Grant. Their names and essays will be sent to Optometry Cares by Jan. 13, 2014. The winners will be announced in May 2014.