Manley: Do you have 2020 vision?

Published 9:51 am Tuesday, October 9, 2018

Long ago I worked my way through college at an optometry office with Dr. Wayne Helderman.

I had high aspirations of being an optometrist and Dr. Helderman mentored me.

Since I would pass out at the sight of blood, it seemed like the perfect way to still be a doctor, but avoid the blood.

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It was a blast working in that office. I had great co-workers and mentors and we all got along well.

We would tell optometry jokes like, “I just found out I’m color blind. It totally came out of the purple.” Or, “Why did the phone wear glasses? Because he lost all of his contacts.” And, “If I could see 15 months into the future, I would have 2020 vision!”

That last one is a timely and clever play on words but, believe it or not, here at Bluegrass Community and Technical College, we are already thinking about the 2019-20 academic year. Yes, I said 2020.

Maybe you are a current high school senior and will be ready for college in fall 2019, maybe you will be returning to college in fall 2019 as a sophomore, or maybe you have been in the workforce for several years and ready to take that step to enroll — this message is for you (and your parents). Start applying now.

Here are a few steps that can help you get ahead of the game in preparation for college in 2019:

1. Apply for college admission.

2. Apply for FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid).

3. Apply for scholarships.

Starting Oct. 1, the FAFSA (fafsa.gov) is open for applications to anyone applying to college in fall 2019. You will need a FSA ID (fsaid.ed.gov), Social Security number, driver’s license number, 2017 tax records, records on untaxed income, records on assets, and the school code (hint: BCTC’s school code is 005244).

I’m not going to share any more optometry jokes because they are getting cornea and cornea, but know that now is the time for action and to be prepared.

Do you have 2020 vision?

Bruce Manley is the campus director at Bluegrass Community and Technical College’s Winchester-Clark County campus.