southern college of optometry is a private, non-profit institution founded in 1932, and it is one of only 23 schools of optometry in the united states. j.j. horton, md, an ophthalmologist, established sco in 1932. the class of 1934 was sco's first graduation class. since then, sco has educated more than 6,000 optometrists from all 50 states and several foreign countries. a new clinical facility was opened in 1953 at its current location, which was later expanded to include a campus of new administrative offices, classrooms and a library.