Student News
July already?! The first half of 2016 has flown by in the blink of an eye!
It has certainly been full steam ahead for our OD4s, who have either returned from or are about to complete their overseas externships- I am currently sitting in a hotel in Las Vegas on my way to NYC for my placement in August! Experiences have been varied and rich, with students travelling far and wide to places like the US, Europe, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore and Hong Kong. Other OD students are surely anticipating hearing the accounts of our placements at ODSC- we’re excited to share them with you!
UMOSS has held various events for our students in the past months, serving to provide some much needed breaks from the stress of exams and clinic. The committee has been assisted by newly elected year level representatives Anjalee Athukoralage & Shawn Wang from OD3, Anne Fernandez & Erica Barclay from OD2 and Mina You & Kieren Do from OD1.
Mina and Kieren have taken to the unfamiliar role like fish to water, hosting various orientation events for their class in the first few months of this year.
Our first event was Lawn bowls, held in Princes Park Carlton bowls club specifically for hard working OD3s & 4s who retuned early from holidays to begin patient consultations.
Friday of the first week of academic semester 1 was our traditional ‘Welcome back BBQ’, which was a success despite the weather gods frowning on us that day and forcing the move inside to our trusty common room!
Thanks to OA, final & third year students were welcomed to the Southern Regional Congress (SRC) again on a weekend in March to attend special lectures, meet industry representatives and potential employers at the careers expo.
UMOSS’ annual Eyemazing race was a raging success, again sponsored by Welch Allyn who generously donated MIO PanOptic Ophthalmosopes to each of the winning team members. Despite valiant efforts from ‘6/3 on Fleek’ & ‘Abs of steel’, ‘Vergence layer’ took out the crown- consisting of Jeremy Chan, Hamish Constantine & Daro Leas. Congratulations to Vergence layer and all 20 (!!) participating teams.
UMOSS students were lucky enough to be invited to the special lecture ‘A history of Australian Optometry’ with Professor Emeritus Barry Cole in April, gaining an invaluable understanding of how optometry came to be such a strong and independent profession.
Our final event for the semester was Bowling and Laser Tag at Strike Melbourne Central, sponsored by Designs for Vision. An awesome turnout of OD1 students in particular allowed for a great social atmosphere, with many students taking home vouchers and the unique pride that only comes through scoring a strike- whether a fluke or not!
But the fun won’t end there- we have more events up our sleeve for semester 2 including a welcome back BBQ, Trivia night and the much anticipated EyeBall, to be held on Saturday October 8- stay tuned for further details! Additionally UMOSS and the students are committed as always to raising money for Optometry Giving Sight, so look out for those events too!
We hope everyone has had a fabulous mid year break and will return fresh and full of energy to tackle semester 2.
From the 2016 UMOSS committee, and eye.
Kyra
President
UMOSS 2016