By ALLISON WOOD

Staff Writer

MEDINA — A teacher came into class asking for help after her contact lens ripped in half and got stuck in her eye.

Class instructor Amanda Hamm told her to lean back and then used her finger to get the contact out while students gathered around to watch.

The students are in the first optical technology class at the Medina County Career Center.

In the two-year program, beginning in the junior year, students will receive training for various careers in the optical field, including opticians, lab technicians that make lenses for glasses and assistants who work in optometrist’s offices, said Hamm, who is a licensed optician.

“The goal is to learn all the basics to work in the field, then apprentice,” she said, because a student must apprentice under a licensed optician and pass a state board exam to become an optician.

Bilal Ghanem (right) and Alicia Springer, who are classmates in the new optical class at the Medina County Career Center in Medina, try to function during class Tuesday while wearing special glasses that mimic eye disorders. (Shirley Ware | Photo Editor)

A couple weeks into classes, students are busy learning the basics, which include the anatomy of the eye and common vision problems.

While sitting in the front of their classroom modeled like a glasses frame showroom, juniors Alicia Springer and her partner Bilal Ghanem tried on different glasses and blindfolds simulating certain eye problems while trying to write.

“It’s hard to see the lines,” Springer said while wearing goggles that blurred her vision. She said she enrolled in the program after her father, who works in the optical industry, encouraged her to apply.

Ghanem kept turning his head to the left while wearing paper frames simulating hemianopsia, the loss of vision in half of the eye.

“It feels weird, you have to turn your head to see what you’re looking at,” he said.

School officials started the program after learning there was a shortage of qualified optical technicians and training programs, Hamm said. The career center is one of the few high schools in the state offering such a program.

Along with learning about frames and contact lenses, students will receive training on lens-making machines and test machines used during eye exams, Hamm said.

After graduation, students can complete an associate degree in optical technology at Cuyahoga Community College’s Metro Campus in Cleveland, complete a two-year optician apprenticeship or pursue a medical or optometry degree, she said.

Along with good communication and customer service skills, interested students must be interested in computers and have good grades in science courses to be considered for admission to the program, career center spokeswoman Christine Kurth said.

The school also is working on a matriculation agreement whereby students can receive Tri-C credits for their career center coursework.

With an aging population and heavy computer usage causing many to need glasses, the optical industry is growing along with the rest of the health care industry, Hamm said.

“It’s such a great feeling when someone can see for the first time when you put on glasses for them,” she said.

Wood may be reached at 330-721-4050 or allisonwood@ohio.net.