NZOSS 2024: more than eyes!

March 20, 2024 Hector Leong, New Zealand Optometry Student Society president

A warm welcome from the 2024 New Zealand Optometry Student Society (NZOSS) executive team! For those unfamiliar with our group, NZOSS functions as a student body and professional platform to foster connections between current optometry students, experienced professionals and the surrounding eyecare industry.

 

Alongside the usual NZOSS agenda, the 2023 team collaborated with a variety of clubs from the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences (FMHS) bringing faculty-wide events to life. These included an exclusive FMHS mixer, the healthcare professions roundtable and an interfaculty badminton tournament!

 

The first weeks of the 2024 School of Optometry and Vision Science year are filled with a plethora of sporting and social activities designed to build connections among optometry students. With the introduction of three social representatives this year, we are thrilled to host even more memorable events for everyone this year. The highly anticipated optometry camp, a tasty BBQ, the Round the Bays team run, pub crawls, pub quizzes and sports days are all on the schedule, plus we are continuing the trend of adding new, innovative events with the introduction of NZOSS’s own Paint and Wine night!

 

Alongside our renowned socials, NZOSS provides optometry students with educational events. These include several business seminars, where industry guest speakers will provide insights into practical optometry and students can build connections outside academia; the healthcare professions roundtable, giving optometry students the opportunity to collaborate with other health professional students to solve cases; and revision seminars, where junior students can gain tips and advice from their more senior peers.

 

Pursuing a bachelor's degree in optometry is both rewarding and immensely demanding. NZOSS understands the importance of mental health and is dedicated to ensuring students feel a sense of safety and support. The buddy system returns in 2024, with our part-two students placed into groups with a senior student to help them settle into their degrees.

 

If you have ideas, questions, or if you wish to support NZOSS in our future endeavours, please reach out to us at nzoss.uoa@gmail.com. We are very excited and hopeful for what 2024 will offer!

 

NZOSS 2024 committee

President – Hector Leong

Vice president – Luke Wang

Secretary – Emily Kamimura

Treasurer – Joanna Cao

Part V social representative – Manishka Sharma

Part IV social representative – Hana Shin

Part III social representative – Angeli De Silva

Educational representative – Shubham Gupta

Public relations officer – Shivon Mudaliar

Sports representative – Jabez Zeleke

Media representative – Sarah Yang

NZAO representative – Joshua Lobo

Grassroots representative – Hanbin Chung