Ashley (Ryckman) O\u2019Dwyer, OD was selected as the 2023 recipient of the Paul Ripley Award for Young Alumni. The award was established in 1994 and is presented to graduates who have enjoyed exceptional personal and professional success early in their careers. She is married to fellow Laker Alumnus, Shawn O\u2019Dwyer, and they have two children, Murphy (3) and Lily (1).<\/p>\n
O\u2019Dwyer graduated Summa Cum Laude in 2013, with her Honors Degree of Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry Pre-Professional. While a student at LSSU, she was in the Honors Program, and was also a member of the Pre-Professional Society and Chemistry Club.\u00a0 She worked as a Chemistry tutor and an Associate Instructor for Humanities.<\/p>\n
\u201cI loved the individual attention from the small class size,\u201d O\u2019Dwyer commented. \u00a0\u201cI loved the small school and knowing each person in your class for the four years.\u00a0 I am still close with a lot of people I met there.\u00a0 Two classmates and friends actually work with me at Bay Mills Health Center as dentists.\u00a0 We all went to Lake State the same time, went to professional school and came back into the area to work in the same clinic.\u00a0 If you would have told me then that we would all have different careers but work in the same building, I never would have believed you.\u00a0 Lake State cultivates an experience where classmates become friends that feel like family.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the summer following her junior year, O\u2019Dwyer received a National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates (NSF: REU) at the University of Wisconsin, and did microbiology research.\u00a0 After earning her BS at LSSU, she attended Indiana University School of Optometry in Bloomington, IN to obtain her Doctor of Optometry degree.\u00a0 While there, she continued to do research as part of the Dean Scholar Program in ocular surface research, and as a clinical research assistant doing entrance testing for subjects in the ocular surface clinical research lab.\u00a0 She also had several externships including Atwater Eye Care Center, Talley Eye Care Center, Indianapolis Eye Care Center, and with the Veterans Affairs Clinic.<\/p>\n
\u201cLife is such an amazing journey and adventure,\u201d said O\u2019Dwyer. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to look forward and see where you are going \u2013 you have an idea and a dream that keeps becoming clearer as you move forward.\u00a0 Sometimes the view can be extremely cloudy.\u00a0 But then you realize when you look behind you, it all made perfect sense all along, and couldn\u2019t have happened any other way.\u00a0 My advice is keep moving forward, even with messy, unclear action.\u00a0 It\u2019ll all be clear someday. \u201d<\/p>\n
O\u2019Dwyer is licensed to practice optometry in Alaska and Michigan.\u00a0 She is Chief Optometric Officer with the Bay Mills Indian Community, and also the co-owner of a traveling eye clinic \u2013 the Eye Guys LLC \u2013 in Wasilla, AK, which she co-founded in March 2021.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Dwyer grew up on the water in Houghton Lake and enjoys fishing and boating.\u00a0 She also enjoys yoga and is a guest instructor at Northern Life Yoga in Sault Ste. Marie. \u00a0O\u2019Dwyer met her husband, Shawn, while at LSSU, where he studied in the Fire Science program.\u00a0 Her dad, Doug Ryckman is an LSSU alum and played on the LSSU men\u2019s basketball team 1974-78.\u00a0 Her sister, Cassandra is a Laker as well, and met her husband at LSSU.\u00a0 Lake State definitely holds a very special place in all their hearts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ashley (Ryckman) O\u2019Dwyer, OD was selected as the 2023 recipient of the Paul Ripley Award for Young Alumni. The award was established in 1994 and is presented to graduates who …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":2581,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[25,24],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakerlog.lssu.edu\/summer2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2543"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakerlog.lssu.edu\/summer2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakerlog.lssu.edu\/summer2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakerlog.lssu.edu\/summer2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakerlog.lssu.edu\/summer2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lakerlog.lssu.edu\/summer2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2543\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakerlog.lssu.edu\/summer2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakerlog.lssu.edu\/summer2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakerlog.lssu.edu\/summer2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakerlog.lssu.edu\/summer2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}