About The Preston Cup
|
The Preston Cup was created in honor of Preston Smith, a 4th year student at Northeastern State University Oklahoma College of Optometry (NSUOCO), and one of the founding members of SOLN during the first annual Student Private Practice Symposium and Leadership Conference held in April 2011. Tragically, at only 26-years-old, Preston was killed in an automobile accident on November 1, 2011 just north of Tahlequah, OK. The loss still weighs heavy on the hearts of the many friends and family Preston left behind.
The Preston Cup is to be awarded each year to the most deserving SOLN private practice or practice management club. Each SOLN member attending the annual conference votes on which of their fellow organizations has gone above and beyond over the past year. It was with outstanding support that the Practice Management Club of NSUOCO was voted to be the first recipients of this honor. |
Tragedy inspires optometric students to recognize those who go above and beyond.
Orlando, FL., April 28, 2012 – The Student Optometric Leadership Network (SOLN) is proud to announce the Practice Management Club of Northeastern State University Oklahoma College of Optometry (NSUOCO) as the first recipients of the Preston Cup, as voted for by club representatives from nineteen schools of optometry.
The Preston Cup was created in honor of Preston Smith, a 4th year student at NSUOCO, and one of the founding members of SOLN during the first annual Student Private Practice Symposium and Leadership Conference held in April 2011. Tragically, at only 26-years-old, Preston was killed in an automobile accident on November 1, 2011 just north of Tahlequah, OK. The loss still weighs heavy on the hearts of the many friends and family Preston left behind.
Preston played an integral role in the formation of SOLN’s mission to promote leadership in private practice optometry across the nation. It is in part due to his hard work and dedication to the NSUOCO Practice Management Club that this organization has been successful in connecting students representing every optometry school in the United States.
The Preston Cup is to be awarded each year to the most deserving SOLN private practice or practice management club. Each SOLN member attending the annual conference votes on which of their fellow organizations has gone above and beyond over the past year. It was with outstanding support that the Practice Management Club of NSUOCO was voted to be the first recipients of this honor.
The Preston Cup was created in honor of Preston Smith, a 4th year student at NSUOCO, and one of the founding members of SOLN during the first annual Student Private Practice Symposium and Leadership Conference held in April 2011. Tragically, at only 26-years-old, Preston was killed in an automobile accident on November 1, 2011 just north of Tahlequah, OK. The loss still weighs heavy on the hearts of the many friends and family Preston left behind.
Preston played an integral role in the formation of SOLN’s mission to promote leadership in private practice optometry across the nation. It is in part due to his hard work and dedication to the NSUOCO Practice Management Club that this organization has been successful in connecting students representing every optometry school in the United States.
The Preston Cup is to be awarded each year to the most deserving SOLN private practice or practice management club. Each SOLN member attending the annual conference votes on which of their fellow organizations has gone above and beyond over the past year. It was with outstanding support that the Practice Management Club of NSUOCO was voted to be the first recipients of this honor.
Nineteen schools of optometry voted to award the first recipient of the Preston Cup.
Preston’s friend, classmate, and NSUOCO Practice Management Club President, James Thirion, remembers Preston as a very positive individual who always saw the best in people. “He was very dedicated to God and extremely excited to use his profession and talent to spread the Gospel. He would go out of his way to help not only his classmates, but those in the classes below him.”
The Preston Cup is engraved with a plaque denoting NSUOCO as the first recipient of this award. The Preston Cup will be shared with Preston’s wife Dara, his family, and displayed at NSUOCO as another reminder of the lives Preston has touched and that his legacy lives on.
The Preston Cup is engraved with a plaque denoting NSUOCO as the first recipient of this award. The Preston Cup will be shared with Preston’s wife Dara, his family, and displayed at NSUOCO as another reminder of the lives Preston has touched and that his legacy lives on.
|
Fellow SOLN founding member and State University of New York College of Optometry (SUNY) Private Practice Club President, Charles Bong, said “I am glad Oklahoma won this year. I think we all voted for them out of respect for Preston and the job his successors did with the club despite the tragedy. I truly believe Oklahoma deserved every bit of that award.”
The Preston Cup was voted on and presented to NSUOCO club representatives at the 2nd annual SOLN National Leadership Meeting sponsored by Vision Source! and VSP® Vision Care. Thirty four club officers attended the three-day conference representing nineteen schools of optometry. The Preston Cup trophy was donated to SOLN by VSP. |
|
