The Gold Postcard: Mr. Optometry 2014

I decided to join class council at the beginning of the year. I had no idea what I was getting myself into at the time but decided it would be a good idea to get involved. After a few meetings I realized student council had the normal responsibilities like any other ASB or club, but to our surprise we had the responsibility of fundraising for our graduation banquet as well. This graduation banquet in the past has accommodated 400 people in a location downtown Portland, so you can image how expensive the event can be.

After our first meeting, our job was to brainstorm fundraising ideas to fulfill this goal. You would think this would be a simple task but let me tell you no it wasn't! Either a class had a similar idea already or it had been done in the past... so unoriginal. I had to get my creative juices flowing and it hit me. I knew we had to do something that would attract the women in this program, considering we have about 75% females in the class of 2017 alone. If we could draw them in we would be bound for success! Then the idea literally hit me while I was in class listening to lecture (okay, okay, I'm guilty of day dreaming in class when I get bored...its our little secret). I thought, why don't we have a male beauty pageant! And Mr. Optometry was conceived, planned, and executed.

We got back to school after three weeks of Christmas break and then had four days to get everything organized and finalized. Our class president made a valid point that most of us spent so much time that week we could have just gotten part time jobs and made the same amount to put toward our class fund. Although this may be true, we wouldn't of had it any other way. It felt so good to see our hard work pay off and hear the laughter and involvement from the crowd.

The big night rolled around and we were as nervous as the contestants, if not more! It was our first event EVER and we felt we had pressure to do well. At last the lights dimmed, the music turned on and the show began! The first ever in Pacific University College of Optometry's History, Mr. Optometry was held on January 9th and it was a complete success. The 10 contestants were judged on best clinic attire, athletic abilities, photogenic eyes, persona, talent, baking abilities, presentation, and Q and A. We had two awards. The first was the "Pupil's Choice" which consisted of the highest combined score of most photogenic eyes, baking abilities and the most ticket sold per class. Pupil's choice was awarded with a mini otoscope donated to us by Heine. The second award was Mr. Optometry who was awarded a sash and of course, a CROWN! Mr. Optometry came with special privileges during ski trip and a $200 gift certificate to Pioneer.