Friday, December 30, 2022
The endless hope for a better year New Year’s traditions in Brazil Luisa Clausen News/Life Editor
Courtesy of McKineey Independent School Distric The Texas Association of Secondary School Principals honored 1999 OSU alumna Amber Epperson as its Texas Middle School Principal of the Year.
1999 OSU alumna named Texas middle school principal of the year Bella Casey Staff Reporter Positive role models are essential to young minds. Middle school principal and OSU alumna Amber Epperson strives to set a good example for more than 1,200 students who attend Cockrill Middle School in McKinney, Texas. Epperson grew up in Ponca City and graduated from Ponca
City High School in 1995. She graduated from OSU in 1999 and moved to the Dallas-Fort Worth area after learning of a teacher shortage in Texas at the time. Epperson received her masters in school administration in 2002 and her doctorate in December 2004. She has been awarded the title of 2022 Middle School Principal of the Year after the Texas Association of Secondary School Principals named her the 2022
Region 10 Outstanding Principal of the Year in September. “I am honored to represent the outstanding middle school principals across the state of Texas,” Epperson said. “This recognition is a validation of the work I had led alongside very talented teams of people who are invested in positively impacting the lives of young people in our communities. I have See Principal on 3A
OSU-COM medical students find inequalities in ophthalmology research Michael Clark Staff Reporter
A group of students from OSU’s College of Osteopathic Medicine department published an article analyzing the inequalities of ophthalmology care for Black and Hispanic patients. Christian Hemmerich, the lead author for the study and sophomore at OSU-COM, helped explain the team’s findings. “Our research team recognized that deficient ophthalmologic care is costly to patients, making identifying groups not receiving adequate care of vital importance,” Hemmerich said. “Overall, lower-income patients were more likely to have vision impairment, use eye care services less, and have lower adherence to eye examinations.” Other authors on the study team include second-year student Garrett Jones, third-year students Jordan Staggs and Rigel Bacani,
third-year Cherokee Nation student Reece Anderson and Office of Medical Student Research Director Matt Vassar. This group analyzed 75 articles based on ophthalmic research that discussed health and income inequalities. The study, which is published in the peer-reviewed journal JAMA Ophthalmology, analyzed previous studies and reports on the same subject and also pointed out a lack of attention toward articles covering LGBTQ patients. “There are many surprising findings,” Hemmerich said. “However, some of the most noteworthy were that zero studies investigated inequities within the LGBTQ groups, and only 27% of studies that focused on race and ethnicity inequalities included American Indian and Alaska Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander patients.” The published article recommended future studies to examine the barriers to clinical studies and medical trainee recruitment as well as
live in Brazil, and not everyone celebrates the holidays in the exact same way. The traditions and superstitions mentioned in this text are the most popular ones in the country, but there are thousands of different ones beside them. All the traditions I know are based on this blind hope of a better life. Brazil is a big and diverse country, filled with unique people. The first one that comes to mind is, Brazilians believe wearing white for New Year’s will bring them peace for the new year starting. No, not every single person wears white.But when you see someone wearing a different color, the immediate thought is “Interesting, I wonder why they chose not to wear white.” Usually, the answer we find is “I am wearing green because I want to get pregnant” or a different explanation related to the colors’ meaning. Stores all over the country display different white dresses, white skirts, white shirts, white shorts, white everything and it is almost hard to escape the sea of peace. Buying new clothes to start the new year means re-starting, and that is a big deal. Around the middle of December, everyone answers and asks the same question: “Have you picked what you are going to wear for New Years?” Another specific tradition that gets in the way of white pants, is the belief the color of your underwear will tell you what will happen in the year starting. If you wear red underwear, you will have love. If you wear yellow underwear, you will have money. If you wear green underwear, you will have a baby. If you wear blue underwear, you will have a serene year. And so on. It might sound silly, but at the end of the day, it is something fun we found to ask the universe for specific things.
Editor’s note: Luisa Clausen, Brazil native and The O’Colly News and Lifestyle Editor, writes about Brazilian New Year’s traditions. People in Brazil celebrate the holidays wearing shorts, T-shirts, dresses or swimsuits. There is no white Christmas or freezing cold on New Year’s Eve. During the months that anticipate the parties, Brazilians from all over the country pick their outfits carefully, as if that is going to dictate how great the holidays will be. Christmas is mostly celebrated on Christmas Eve them, with a late dinner and a late opening of presents. Once Christmas is over, Brazil worries about one thing: New Year. There is no such thing as a small celebration, a lot of thought is put into how, when and with who you are going to ring the new year. Most of the country stops between Christmas and New Year. Those lucky enough to have some days off plan a way to spend their days enjoying the heat. Kids are off school, parents try to take some time to relax with them and friends look forward to making great memories in a break after all the family time spent the week before. Growing up in Brazil, I spent most of my New Year celebrations with my family, and just when I was about old enough to participate in all the fun and traditions my country holds, I moved to the U.S. This is the first time I spent this holiday here since I was 17 and outside the COVID era. With that, I started to realize all the peculiar traditions and celebrations we have that America does not. It is important to say 214 million people See Brazil on 5A
Courtsey of OSU Christian Hemmerich, the lead author for the study and sophomore at OSU-COM.
patient values, preference studies and the implementation of telemedicine in under-resourced areas. “I feel honored to have this research published in such an esteemed journal,” Hemmerich said. “I am incredibly grateful to have this opportunity and to use the JAMA platform to share our research and contribute to the scientific literature.” news.ed@ocolly.com
Courtesy of Essa Receita Funciona Brazillian lentils. Brazillians believe eating lentils on New Year’s Eve will bring money to the new year.