Sarah Woelffel, a first-year student in the College of Optomety, recently received the Armed Forces Health Professions Scholarship. She was officially commissioned as a Navy officer on Sept. 26. (Photo by Derik Holtmann)
Sarah Woelffel has known for years that she wanted to work as an optometrist, but it took her a little longer to picture herself doing so in the Navy.
Years before she enrolled at the University of Missouri–St. Louis College of Optometry, when she was growing up in Buffalo, New York, her father often shared stories from his time in the Air Force. He was never pushy, but he made sure Woelffel knew the military was an option for her, too. Initially, she brushed off the idea, thinking the armed forces wasn’t really her thing.
Woelffel ended up taking inspiration from her father in another way when she accompanied him to his LASIK surgery when she was 14 years old. The ophthalmologist invited Woelffel and her family to watch the surgery, walking them through the ins and outs of the procedure. Immediately, Woelffel’s interest was piqued.
“It was super cool to see,” Woelffel said. “And then after the surgery, my dad was getting all excited about all the things that he could see now, because he had such a strong prescription before that he wouldn’t be able to see his alarm clock without his glasses. Now he was reading the license plate on the car from 30 feet away, and he’s like, ‘Whoa, this is so cool!’ And I’m like, ‘That is kind of cool.’”
Woelffel found herself asking questions at her own optometry appointment. The more she learned about optometry, the more she fell in love with it. With her sights set on a career in optometry, she chose to pursue her undergraduate degree in biology, with minors in psychology and business, at Canisius University in Buffalo.
During her sophomore year, a recruiter reached out about the Armed Forces Health Professions Scholarship, which covers full tuition, a monthly living stipend and school equipment costs for advanced medical degrees in exchange for military service after graduation. Woelffel thought it sounded too be good to be true, but her father encouraged her to at least entertain the idea. After speaking with the recruiter, she decided to go for it, figuring the Navy would be the best fit for her personally.
“The goal of it is really to take as much of the financial burden off of you as possible, so you can focus on your schoolwork and become the best doctor possible,” Woelffel said. “And then once you graduate, you go into the military of whatever branch you’re signed with, and you pay back the time, essentially, and you become the best doctor for them. They’re really investing in you in that way.”
Woelffel spent the next year applying for the scholarship, including completing a background check and an evaluation at the Military Entrance Processing Station, interviewing with Navy optometrists, submitting letters of recommendation and writing a personal statement about why she wanted to join the military.
In July of this year, Woelffel got the call from her recruiter, but it wasn’t the news she had been hoping for. The scholarship is extremely competitive, offering just a few spots for future Navy optometrists across the country, and Woelffel wasn’t one of them. She was disappointed, but decided she would apply again the following year for a three-year scholarship. She made the move to St. Louis and shifted her focus to starting her coursework in UMSL’s College of Optometry.
In class one morning, just a month into the semester, Woelffel received a call from her recruiter with good news. The Navy had opened up more spots for the scholarship, and she was now a recipient of the Armed Forces Health Professions Scholarship. A week later, on Sept. 26, Woelffel was officially commissioned as a Navy officer. While she was sad that her family wasn’t able to be there in person, they were able to watch over Zoom, and they haven’t let the distance stop them from letting her know how proud they are.
“My dad was almost more excited than I was,” Woelffel said. “When I called my parents up and told them that I got the scholarship, they were on speakerphone on the way to an event back home, and they were super excited, freaking out and shouting. And my dad – I could just hear in his voice – he had the biggest smile on his face. After my commissioning, we were just talking on the phone one day, and he told me he was tearing up a little bit. They were super excited, super happy for me.”
Woelffel can now breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that her education in the College of Optometry is fully paid for. As she’s settled into her coursework, she’s been able to connect with fellow classmate Victoria Olguin, a former Army service member using the GI Bill to pay for school. After receiving a broader education in biology in undergrad, Woelffel is excited to dive into more specific information about the eye in the College of Optometry.
She’s particularly enjoyed the Anatomy, Physiology, and Disease course, which has helped her better understand how the eye works and how factors such as cholesterol or blood sugar can impact ocular disease. In her clinical course, she’s able to connect that foundational science to eye care as she practices her skills.
“It just feels so much more meaningful because it’s stuff that I’m actually going to use in my life,” she said.
When applying for optometry schools, Woelffel was drawn to UMSL for its transparent admissions experience, welcoming community, small class size and supportive faculty. Even just a few months into the program, she’s found her initial impressions of the college still ring true.
“A big thing that drew me to UMSL was just the people here – especially during my interview, everyone was just so friendly, very warm,” Woelffel said. “It felt very comfortable right from the beginning. And then since I’ve started here, it’s been the same experience. Everybody’s very welcoming. All of my classmates are really close. It’s a small class, so that helps and makes for a good family feel. And all of the professors are just so helpful; you can tell they really want you to succeed.”
Moving forward, Woelffel expects to attend a five-week Navy Officer Development School in Rhode Island, which will help her learn all the ins and outs of military life. In a few years, once she completes her optometry degree, she’ll be stationed somewhere as a Navy optometrist. In addition to getting to practice as an optometrist, Woelffel is looking forward to the camaraderie associated with being in the military, as well as the opportunity to live somewhere new, such as Italy or Hawaii.
She’s excited to continue her family’s long line of military service – in addition to her father, both of her grandfathers served in the military, and she has a cousin in the service, as well. When she told her uncles about receiving the scholarship, they shared that her great-grandfather had also served as an officer in the Navy.
“I’m now the first officer in my family in almost 100 years,” Woelffel said. “As far as I know, I’m also the first female in my family to be in the military, so I think that was really cool. My dad is also part of a veteran hockey team back home, and they’re all there to support each other. It gives them that sense of community and somewhere to have those conversations that you can’t really have with other people. I go to as many of his games as I can and I’ve seen that camaraderie among that group, which is just awesome.”
