Grade 8 Career Speaker Series

From thinking he was going to be an engineer, to having a career crisis in university, to being at the leading edge of the eye-brain connection, Dr. Cameron McCrodan was on campus Friday to share the lessons he has learned along the way with the Grade 8 class and Grade 12 psychology students.

Dr. McCrodan shared with his audience that, despite always thinking that he was going to be an engineer, he grew disillusioned after one year of engineering studies at UVic and concluded that a traditional engineering path was not for him. Rather than boomeranging too quickly into a different course of study, his father suggested that he take some time to think and interview a wide variety of professionals about their different careers, in the quest to find a career that would be the right fit. His father also advised him to consider his university education like a business loan, from which he should plan to emerge with a skill set.

Following his father’s advice, Dr. McCrodan took a year out during which he explored several different avenues before choosing to continue his studies at The School of Optometry and Vision Science at Waterloo University.

After graduation, combining engineering with vision care was the revelation that shaped his business philosophy and future direction. Now, as a fellow of the College of Optometrists in Vision Development (FCOVD) and pioneering entrepreneur, Dr. McCrodan has dedicated neuro-visual rehab, vision therapy, vision development, and behavioural optometry clinics in Victoria, Nanaimo and Brooklyn, NY.

In his talk for the Grade 8s, Dr. McCrodan drew heavily on the importance of perception as a life lesson, stressing that perception truly is everything. Rather than perceiving problems as negative hurdles to surmount, he suggested that the students aim to perceive problems and challenges in their lives as lessons, no matter how uncomfortable that course of action may be, and encouraged them to ask themselves, “What is there to learn from this situation?” He also recommended that students play to their strengths in study, life and in the acquisition of transferrable skills.

Dr. McCrodan’s presentation can be watched on YouTube and his recent Victoria TEDx talk can be found on his website at http://www.mccrodanvision.com/