Student eyes optometry career after job shadow

Camie Rediker ’22

Camie Rediker ’22, a neuroscience major with a double minor in chemistry and philosophy from Hartland, VT, plans to head to Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences to acquire her doctorate in optometry after graduating this spring.

Rediker’s doctorate plans only came to fruition when she took advice from her academic adviser, Saint Michael’s biology Professor Adam Weaver, and job shadowed with her eye doctor while home on breaks.

Adam Weaver

“[Weaver] told me that shadowing someone is the best way to learn about a certain job. So, as someone who wears glasses, the first person that came to mind was my eye doctor and now here I am almost a full year later with the same position,” she said.

She works as an ophthalmic technician at Junction Eye Center. Her job is to run pre-testing, take medical information, do triaging, and more. Rediker said that one of her favorite aspects of the job is just how closely she is able to work with the patients. “That’s not something you really get to do with undergrad. To have a job at home where I’m working directly with patients has been so great and has prepared me so much for future endeavors,” said Rediker.

Rediker said that she is extremely appreciative of her mentor, Dr. Dean Barcelow, at the office. “He’s been showing me the ropes since I started and he’s just been so crucial in helping me figure out how passionate I am about wanting to pursue this doctorate,” she said.

Dr. Dean Barcelow

When she first reached out to the office, she was only looking to intern with Barcelow, but from the start, he offered her a full time position to pursue during the periods she is home. Rediker believes that the office is what helped her figure out exactly what her next career steps are; once she figured this out, Saint Michael’s was able to help her figure out how to take the next step.

“The biggest support system I’ve had here has definitely been the Career Education Center. They helped me with my resume and conducted mock interviews with me for grad school,” said Rediker. “Even after meeting with them, I was getting emails weekly asking about how my grad school application process was going. So they were very sweet and really helpful in that process.”

Rediker believes that Saint Michael’s has integrated the importance of possessing communications skills into her education and experience. As an online communications coordinator for the Founders Society, Rediker’s role is to run “KnightChats” which are instant messaging platform sessions with prospective and current students. In the Admission Office, Rediker also writes postcards for prospective students and answers basic questions that prospective students or families may have, as well as being a tour guide. “Working in the Admission Office is another experience that has helped me gain those interpersonal and human connection skills,” said Rediker.

Camie enjoyed finding this sign of her future during recent travels to Montreal.

Alongside the experiences Rediker has had while at Saint Michael’s, she also believes the education is one that encourages students to be well-rounded and acquire those communicative skills. Rediker believes these skills emerge through the liberal arts curriculum and requirements such as English and philosophy, which teach students about human emotion, articulation, communication, relationships, and more. The curriculum is something that truly set a Saint Michael’s apart from a lot of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) schools for Rediker when she was making her college decisions, she said.

“The really nice thing about Saint Mike’s is that even though you’re studying something in the STEM field, you’re still getting that interdisciplinary education — so I had to take my science courses but I also learned just as much from some of my liberal arts requirement courses,” she said. “That’s something I wouldn’t have gotten if I went to a strictly STEM focused school.

Rediker’s experience with academic advising, mentorship, and on-campus engagement have all contributed to the discovery of her career interests. Rediker encourages current and prospective students to try out every opportunity that comes their way.

“Be open to everything,” she said. “A doctorate in optometry was never part of the plan for me. Now, it’s all I can imagine pursuing.”