Fun Fact Friday: 1930s & 1940s

1930s:

• The Pennsylvania State College of Optometry (PSCO, later renamed Pennsylvania College of Optometry) founded the Omicron Delta Epsilon Fraternity (est. 1932) and the Phi Beta Rho Sorority (est. 1934).
• In 1934, PSCO becomes the first school of optometry to require a four-year education.
• PSCO’s clinics acquire larger facilities with new technology, such as interdepartmental telephones in 1935.
• In the 1930s, PSCO offered courses in Comparative Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, General Physics, Chemistry, English, and Mathematics, in addition to courses in optometry.
• The Click Club, the College’s first and only photography club, is formed and holds the College’s first annual photo competition in 1939 – competitions and shows continued well into the ‘40s.

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1940s

• PSCO held a beauty exhibition and competition among its female students in 1940. The winner was Betty Gwillim, OD ‘40. Runners up included Marion Scudder, OD ‘40; Eleanor Miller, OD ‘40; Anna Belle Hamaker, OD ‘40; Jeanne Shirley, OD ‘40; and Jane Epler, OD ‘40.
• Students form the Boots and Saddles club, the College’s first and only equestrian club; and the Southern Club, a club celebrating the hospitality and lifestyle of the South in 1940.
• The original Instagram: The 1940 yearbook displayed “A Freshman’s Day,” which was series of photos that followed a student throughout his/her day as a PSCO student.
• PSCO’s basketball team won the Professional College Championship during the 1942-43 season.
• PSCO is the first college or school of optometry to offer a contact lens course for practitioners in 1949.