In March 2014, we were deeply saddened about the passing of Dr. David McKenna from Prince Edward Island. In his memory the Canadian Optometric Education Trust Fund (COETF) embarked on a fundraising campaign to establish a scholarship in his honour to support students from PEI and/or the East Coast of Canada who are studying optometry
Thanks to the generosity of the profession, COETF’s campaign was a great success. In November 2018, the School was honoured to be able to present the first Dr. David McKenna Memorial Scholarship to Jessica Wood.
The Scholarship, valued at $1,500 a year, is awarded to first-year students in the optometry program who are from PEI and/or the East Coast, have achieved academic excellence and have demonstrated leadership skills and community involvement.
The award’s criteria pay tribute to Dr. McKenna’s career and Jessica’s achievements reflect his commitment to the profession and his community.
Jessica, a first-year student from O’Leary, PEI, became interested in optometry while doing her master’s in vision science at Dalhousie University. She enjoyed the patient care aspect, an interest that was enhanced by her volunteer work with Special Olympics athletes.
What did receiving the award mean to Jessica?
“First, the award took quite a bit of financial strain off, for which I’m very grateful. And secondly, there’s a saying that everyone from PEI knows everyone else from PEI. It didn’t take long for me to find people who knew Dr. McKenna. Everyone I spoke to says he was a fantastic optometrist who was very involved in the Charlottetown community. It’s an honour to receive a scholarship that was named for him.”
Dr. McKenna graduated from Waterloo’s School of Optometry & Vision Science in 1982. He was greatly involved both provincially and nationally at the Association levels and with the Canadian Examiners of Optometry (CEO). He was a Trustee of the Canadian Optometric Trust Fund from 1988-1991. A mentor to many optometry students from the University of Waterloo, he received WOVS’ Distinguished Alumni of Honour Award in 2009.
The COETF is a nationally registered charity that supports optometric research in Canada and offers an annual awards program that assists with the completion and application of selected research projects. The organization relies almost entirely on donations from Canadian optometrists to support worthy projects that will advance eye care in Canada. The COETF is proud to have donated more than $2,000,000 towards optometric research since its inception in 1977.
