How did you become interested in the field of optometry?  Like many optometrists, I started wearing glasses early on, but it wasn't really until I was in college that I started thinking about optometry as a career. I was shadowing an optometrist, and he seemingly had an ideal work-life balance – he found success in his job and had time for his family. Witnessing that and the relationships he had with his long-standing patients, I wanted something similar. There are so many modes of practice in optometry, which is another reason why I decided t ..read more

Dr. Kelly Frantz has been teaching at ICO since 1986. With over 30 years of experience, she's seen ICO change and grow over the years. Read on to learn how she discovered optometry (she was only 12!), how she learned that teaching was her passion and how teaching at ICO has evolved and changed over the decades she has been here. When did you become interested in optometry? Well, I got into optometry by starting to learn about it all the way back in seventh grade. I had myopia like so many other kids, and I was intrigued how my optometrist helped me see more clearly. I was also into science. I ..read more

Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got into optometry? I've always liked science, especially biology. I just didn't know what I wanted to do with it as a career. In college, I pretty quickly realized that being in a lab all day was not my cup of tea. I discovered optometry through my family optometrist, Dr. Susanna Fostiak. Shadowing her made me realize optometry was a wonderful way to use science every day. I got to help people and formed these great relationships with patients. She was an ICO grad. So, I applied to ICO. It was actually the only optometry school I applied to. Af ..read more

Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got into optometry. What drew you to ICO? I always knew I wanted to work in healthcare, but for a long time I didn’t know which career was right for me. I wanted to do meaningful work and healthcare felt like the right field to do this. When I learned about optometry, I realized it was the perfect fit for me. This is in part because I myself have experienced its incredible impact. I’m moderately myopic, and I vividly remember my optometrist fitting me for contact lenses so that I could continue playing college basketball without worrying about g ..read more

One of the things we love most about ICO is ICO's diversity. We have many LatinX and Hispanic employees especially in the IEI. So we asked them, how do you celebrate your heritage and what do you think makes ICO special? Here are their responses. Thanks to all who shared a bit of their culture with us. Martha Boyd "Personally, we just have a small get together with our family since Mexican Independence Day is also my mom's birthday. We like to have all 'Mexican Antojitos' which is tacos, tostadas and booze of course, lol." Rosalia Valencia "We have big family gatherings and we make lots of f ..read more

Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got into optometry? I actually got into optometry because of a few good friends of mine. Back in Canada, they introduced me to the profession. I wanted to learn more so I started shadowing my own optometrist. I was really impressed at how content and happy he was at work, so I asked him, “You’re always smiling. I’ve never seen you upset. Why?” His response: “‘Because I love my job.” I was sold. From there I applied to optometry school. All my friends and I were accepted into PCO/Salus. So, that’s where we went. What drew you to ICO? As a studen ..read more

This year, as every year before, we welcomed a brand-new class to ICO. The Class of 2026 has now gone through move-in day, several days of orientation and has already taken their first exam! (As you all know, things move very quickly here at ICO.) ICO’s Class of 2026 competing in the ICO Olympics (Held August 20th). It rained intermittently throughout the day, but as you can see, the students still had tons of fun! We asked our newest students what their top school was and if it was ICO, why they chose ICO. We wanted to share a few of their thoughts. We thought they might resonate with you as ..read more

Throughout this article we’ll feature a few of our second-year students whose mentors or parents have a connection to ICO. If you haven't seen the White Coat livestream and are interested, you can rewatch on our YouTube channel. As you know, it takes a lot to become an OD. Sometimes even the first step can be challenging. There are so many questions incoming students have. As you also may know, recruiting students in the current environment has become ever-more challenging. The number of students applying to optometry schools has not significantly increased over the decades, but several new op ..read more

It's finally here! This week the future class of 2026 arrives on campus and will take the first step of this exciting 4-year journey. The years will fly by, life-long relationships will be made, and lives will be transformed in a very short time. We've collected a couple words of advice from our staff and faculty and a few things we think you should keep in mind before you start ..read more

This honor recognizes students in the first and second professional year who have distinguished themselves by scoring 90% or higher on the pre-clinical skills assessment last quarter and scored no lower than 75% on all NBEO skills. Congratulations students! Class of 2025, (Fall '21) Alador Sisay Alyssa Petko Amanda Stadtlander Ariana Padilla Catherine Liu Chandler Wolfe Cindy Dupuis Courtney Carmain Crissy Lee Emily Chong Emily Lau Giovanni Gonzalez Grace Dille Joy Lin Julianna Babich Karli Clark Kiana Cheung Kianna Swanson Kiara Stevenson Kylie Donohue Lauren Disterhaft Lauren VanderReyden Le ..read more