A&M-Victoria brings vision care to students in need
An initiative at Texas A&M University-Victoria is giving students more than just a clearer view of the classroom, it’s sending a message that their well-being matters.
On May 1, 15 Jaguars received free eye exams and prescription glasses through the Path to Clear Glasses event, a first-time collaboration between A&M-Victoria’s Student Services and local optometrist Dr. Faye Tupa.
The event, funded by Student Services and supported by donated professional time from Dr. Tupa and her team, aimed to remove financial barriers to basic vision care.
“Dr. Tupa and her team were amazing and very accommodating throughout the process. Everyone was friendly, professional, and truly attentive to students’ needs,” said Madison Rosalez, A&M-Victoria case manager and health educator for Student Services. “Her team went above and beyond to make sure every student was taken care of, taking the time to offer support and clearly lay out different options for students to choose from. Overall, it was a very positive and well-organized experience.”
The event was inspired by a similar initiative at Texas A&M University, which operates under the trust of Von’s Vision, Rosalez said. After learning about it, Rosalez began to explore how to bring a comparable effort to A&M-Victoria. After talking with other members of the team, they began to think about potential partners. While there was initial talk of working with larger companies, Rosalez said she felt strongly about collaborating locally.
She reached out to Dr. Tupa, who immediately supported the idea. From there, the partnership quickly took shape. Eligible students applied through a Microsoft form. To qualify, students had to be taking classes full time, be undergraduate students and meet certain student aid criteria.
“Being a health educator, I always try to bring new initiatives to campus like this,” Rosalez said. “Being a part of The Texas A&M System, I want to take what we see from the main campus, see what is successful and try to bring that same success here for our students.”
When Dr. Tupa first heard from Rosalez about the collaboration, she didn’t hesitate to say yes. She and her team have worked with other charities in town in the past and wanted to give back to the community as much as they can, she said. As part of that day, she and her team, along with assistance from optometrist Dr. Caia Homerstad, worked to provide vision screenings and checked for any refractive errors so the students could get their prescription glasses.
“The staff and I had a wonderful time doing it,” Tupa said. “We were excited to be able to help, and all of the students were extremely courteous and appreciative. It was a fun day for my staff and I.”
For Yistiana Cruz, the recent event provided critical support after weeks of financial strain caused by a car accident and weeks of dealing with broken glasses. Cruz, a freshman from Los Fresnos, was one of the students selected to receive an eye exam and glasses through the initiative.
She did what she could to hold her old glasses frame together with the help of super glue. A few weeks after her car accident, her mother got in a car accident of her own, so being selected as one of the students alleviated a lot of financial pressure on her family, Cruz said.
“I am thankful for Texas A&M University-Victoria for doing this for our community,” Cruz said. “There are so many people who don’t have the financial means to get glasses, and I just think it’s a very great way to help students who are struggling.”
Texas A&M University-Victoria, located in the heart of the Coastal Bend region since 1973 in Victoria, Texas, offers courses leading to more than 50 academic programs in the colleges of Business, Education & Health Professions, Liberal Arts & Social Sciences, and Natural & Applied Science. A&M-Victoria provides face-to-face classes at its Victoria campus, as well as online classes that students can take from anywhere. The university supports the American Association of State Colleges and Universities Opportunities for All initiative to increase awareness about state colleges and universities and the important role they have in providing a high-quality and accessible education to an increasingly diverse student population, as well as contributing to regional and state economic development.