April 9, 2024

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Hughson Unified students will have access to free eye screening on April 17 thanks to a partnership between a local nonprofit organization and a national health company.

The program is known as Glasses 2 Classes. It offers free eye screening and same-day glasses for up to 200 students per district. The Optical Academy of New Jersey runs the clinics and Turlock-based Legacy Health Endowment is underwriting their cost for Hughson and four other school districts in Stanislaus and Merced counties.

At each clinic, Optical Academy’s mobile vision team will bring its state-of-the-art equipment to a school site to provide students with free eye screening and examinations. If students need glasses, they are made onsite that day and provided at no cost.

In Hughson, the eye exams will take place at Reeder Hall on the high school campus. District Nurse Vicky Fuller said parents and school officials identified the students who will participate. Hughson already has more than 200 signed up, she said, and there isn’t room for anyone else. The majority are younger students in transitional kindergarten through fifth grade, though students of all ages will be tested.

Hughson Superintendent thanked the people at Legacy Health Endowment for bringing the clinic to the district, calling it “an amazing program that gives the gift of better eyesight to our students.”

Jeffrey Lewis, President and CEO of Legacy Health Endowment, said Glasses 2 Classes has the potential to positively impact hundreds of lives.

“Being able to see correctly is critical to any student’s success in or out of the classroom,” he said. “We are happy to be able to bring a proven program such as Glasses 2 Classes to this area.”

Abby Ayoub, founder of Optical Academy, praised LHE for providing the money to put on the clinics.

“Without partners with passion like the Legacy Health Endowment, we can’t deliver these crucial onsite mobile vision services,” Ayoub said. “We are extremely excited to serve students in the comfort of their school and engage them in making their glasses.”