306 Peninsula PointeCanton GA, 30115

April 19th ,2012

Judges, Senior ProjectCreekview High School1550 Owens Store RoadCanton, GA 30115

Dear Judges:

Ever since the age of two I’ve had serious complications with my eye sight causing frequent visits to an orthopedic surgeon. My interest in my own eyes sparked as I got older, learning that my case of estropia was unusually cured by the wearing of an eye patch rather than the correction of prisms or surgery. When my eye doctor told me jokingly he even once considered doing a case study on my vision, it intrigued me and I wanted to learn more about how my vision has improved over the years. With my astigmatism, estropia, and farsightedness it has made me so appreciative for the corrective lenses offered today, which is why I hope to become an optometrist, assisting people with their own form of corrective lenses and solving their own puzzle for them.

The focus of my research paper was Astigmatism and symptoms, causes, prevalence and correction. And by studying that, I was able to pull together an eye model of astigmatism and also including, hyperopia, and estropia. Researching this topic also made it easier to decipher the level of astigmatism that is lingering in my eyes now, and that was there at a young age. Deciding how to make the eye model, however, came as a challenge because of the neatness it had to measure up to. In the beginning my model was a styrofoam ball but quickly learning I am more computer savvy than creative, I decided to make an online model using Microsoft 2010.

My topic and research directly correlates to the knowledge optometrists refer to on a daily basis. Having an optician as a facilitator, gave me a whole new respect for what they do, but I think I’d be more interested in the field of ophthalmology because of their involvement in corrective surgery. I think I’d enjoy more of a hands on experience with the patients, than determining their corrective lenses for them. Even if it does mean I have to attend medical school, I know this is what I want to do. I have learned through this experience that I am passionate about this topic, and I wouldn’t mind it being the focus of my career path.

I enjoyed the process of my senior project, but didn’t enjoy the tedious tasks. Although I feel like I learned a lot and it helped me with deciding my future career, the redundancy and amount of busy work was over emphasized. Thank you for taking the time to observe my project!

Sincerely,

Bethany Soph