(L to R) Steven Kleen, first place recipient of the InfantSEE Scholarship; Matthew Polster, runner-up recipient of the InfantSEE Scholarship; Benjamin Foreman, recipient of the 2014 Dr. Seymour Galina Grant.
ST. LOUIS—Optometry Cares—The AOA Foundation announced three winners of its 2014 scholarship program. Two students, Steven Kleen from the Southern California College of Optometry at Marshall B. Ketchum University and Matthew Polster of the Pacific University College of Optometry have been named recipients of InfantSEE Scholarships, and one student, Benjamin Foreman from Pennsylvania College of Optometry at Salus University has been awarded the 2014 Dr. Seymour Galina Grant.
 
The scholarships are managed through Optometry Cares—The AOA Foundation, which works to help expand access to quality eye care to citizens across the country.
 
According to the organization, to apply for an InfantSEE Scholarship, which are provided by Optometry Cares through donations from Vision West, Inc., students were required to submit an essay “describing, among other points, what they see as major challenges in providing optometric care to infants, how they would overcome those challenges, and how their clinical experiences have directly contributed to their development as future participants in the InfantSEE program.”
 
To apply for the Dr. Seymour Galina Grant, offered from the Galina Fund through Optometry Cares, students were required to write a 1,500 word essay “describing qualities that he or she developed through financial planning/work experience during and/or before optometry school that the individual believes will be most useful in a professional optometric practice.”
 
Further, each applicant was required to be a third-year student member of the American Optometric Association (AOA) class of 2015 and in good standing in the AOA and the American Optometric Student Association (AOSA).
 
For more information on 2014 scholarships and grants, click here or visit the Optometry Cares—The AOA Foundation website at www.aoafoundation.org.