The American Optometric Student Association (AOSA) has elected Erick Henderson ’12 of Southern College of Optometry (Memphis, TN) as its president. The American Optometric Student Association currently represents 6,700 students of optometry. Erick is the 49th student to serve as president of the AOSA. Henderson, from Danville, IL, is the 49th student to serve as president of the AOSA. Erick is a current student at the Southern College of Optometry in Memphis, TN. He is the recipient of multiple scholarships and is active with OptometryStudents.com, the Student Society of the Tennessee Association of Optometric Physicians, and the Neuro-Optometric Rehabilitation Association. Additional information regarding Erick’s election can be found here.

Congratulations Erick!

Erick is pictured on the far right of the photo along with (from R->L): Vice President Lauren Fereday, MCPHS University School of
Optometry; Treasurer Evan Tirado, New England College of Optometry and Secretary Christin
DeMoss, Pennsylvania College of Optometry at Salus University.

Matt Seidel has been busy since our 2012 graduation as both a trombone teacher and performer in the Chicago and Northwest Indiana area.  Following graduation, Matt got his M. M. from Southern Illinois University. Matt performed at the Aspen Music Festival in Aspen, CO in the summer of 2015 and has since been performing with classical, jazz, funk, rock, salsa, and polka groups. Primary teachers for Matt include: Tom Streeter, Tim Pitchford, Chris Davis, Clint McCannless, and Jessica Butler. Join me in wishing Matt many years of continued success!

Class of 2012 alumnus Stephen Rudnicki was recently selected as the boys basketball coach and a social studies teacher at West Carroll High School in Savanna, IL. Noting Stephen’s experience as a basketball player at both Evanston Township High School and our very own Illinois Wesleyan, the West Carroll Athletic Director arranged Stephen’s introduction to both the public and the media in June. Check out this article from the Rockford Register Star for additional information.

Congratulations to Stephen from the class of 2012!

Class of 2012 Physics alumnus, Taiyo Wilson, was awarded a NASA Space Technology Research Fellowship. Taiyo is a current PhD Candidate at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Receipt of this fellowship will enable Taiyo to collaborate with top researchers in the field in addition to traveling to various NASA research centers to conduct his research. The full feature written by Illinois Wesleyan can be found here. For additional information regarding Taiyo’s research on continuum-kinetic hybrid framework for chemically reacting flows, check out the NASA press release.

Please join me in congratulating Taiyo for this accomplishment!