Vision is a natural gift that is often taken for granted. For many Academy girls, perfect vision doesn’t come naturally so they opt for glasses or contacts. As ACHONA learned from the experts, glasses have their pros and cons, but they are essential to the school day and beyond.

Freshman Victoria Wehling describes wearing glasses as having “less stress on her eyes” and “less headaches”. After having worn her Raybans for only a few days, Wehling only has positive feedback. She has actually wanted to wear glasses for a long time. “I couldn’t wait until they day they came in!” she says.

Junior Cris Renner acknowledges that there are a few downfalls of wearing glasses; specifically her Valentino wayfarer frames. “They’re kinda heavy,” she comments. “Also, you do one thing and suddenly there’s fingerprints all over the glass.” Despite these complications, Renner is still exceedingly thankful for her glasses because they changed the way she saw her life (literally).

Renner first discovered that she needed glasses when she and her family arrived late, “in classic Renner fashion”, to her brother’s confirmation and had to sit in the back of the church. Her mom was commenting about the beautiful banners on the altar when Renner responded, “How can you possibly read that from all the way back here?!” As the banners were well within readable distance, Renner’s mom became concerned and took her to the optometrist where they discovered she had negative vision in both eyes.

Since that day nine years ago, Renner’s life has changed for the better. Before she had glasses, Renner says that her life had been affected by her bad vision. “When I was forced to play sports, you can understand the complications of not being able to see something being thrown at your face”. she chuckles. Renner also remembers being placed in the back of the class, due to alphabetical seating charts, and constantly having to ask to move forward. “I didn’t think anything of the fact that I couldn’t see and other people could. I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me that that was kind of odd.” she ponders.

In addition to the obvious visual advantages, glasses are also a fashion accessory. Freshman Victoria Wehling chose her frames because “they make you look smarter and they match with everything”. Chris Renner also comments that when you’re having an off day, “you just slap on your glasses, put your hair in a bun, and you look nerd chic.”

A disaster that almost every glasses-sporting individual has coped with is forgetting their glasses at home. When asked how Renner deals with forgetting her glasses, she simply answers “I wouldn’t make it out the door without them.”