Once again, Wisconsin Vision, Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association, Milwaukee Public Schools and Prevent Blindness Wisconsin have teamed up to bring free eye exams and glasses to students at two MPS schools via the Clear Days Ahead program.
The program brought vision screenings to nearly 500 students ages 4-14 at Westside Academy, 1945 N. 31st St., and Kagel Elementary, 1210 W. Mineral St. this autumn.
Optometrists, opticians and others volunteered their time to do the tests. Even the Wisconsin Vision's CEO Darren Horndasch was at Kagel this week testing kids.
After the tests, students who needed prescription glasses got them free from Wisconsin Vision.
"A pair of glasses can make all the difference in a student's ability to learn," said MPS Superintendent Dr. Darienne Driver in a statement. "We want to thank Wisconsin Vision and the MTEA for their work to ensure our students can see clearly and actively participate in their classes."
"Each year, we identify some students who are legally blind without glasses," said Wisconsin Vision's Beth Bush. And undetected vision problems can seriously hamper a child's learning.
The Clear Days Ahead program kicked off in 2010 and nearly 1,000 pairs of glasses have been given to MPS students during that time.
Here are some photos taken at the screenings at Kagel Elementary on Thursday:
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
