UMOSS

With the Department of Optometry & Vision Science preparing for the migration of the department and its facilities, your beloved student committee has taken the mature approach by adopting an owl (Owlbert) as its mascot and setting up its own Instagram page. These actions are aligned with the main goals of the 2019 committee, which is to promote student engagement and the development of the student body heading into 2020.

Over the last eight months, Owlbert has been involved in numerous events and made dozens of friends. It seems like an eternity ago when we were welcoming the OD1s into Alice Hoy! Since then, Owlbert has seen two foreign body kits raffled off, become a laser tag champion overnight, tested his general knowledge at the inaugural MDHS Trivia Night and even made some new friends from Deakin University at our Optometry Victoria Paediatrics Seminar. Owlbert has also embraced his social media account and released his own revision pop quizzes during SWOTVAC!

The highlight of our first semester was our Eyemazing Race; with the ambitious revamp of the race being a massive hit amongst the competitors. Thank you to all who participated and congratulations to all racers especially the winners - Team Peter PanOptics. Despite the committee being in four different continents due to our overseas externships, the committee has worked diligently to turn our new initiatives into reality for our student members. Semester 2 saw the introduction of the first UMOSS Student Newsletter, which aims to promote the activities of UMOSS and other student initiatives such as the Big Brother Big Sister Program, OD student volunteering trips and the DOVS Futsal team.

The first major event for Semester 2 was our annual Trivia Night, where the students were able to dress up as their heroes on their quest for bragging rights over their peers and to learn more about the heroes in the contact lens field.  Semester 2 also saw the introduction of UMOSS Education events where industrial optometric heavyweights presented talks to our students with aims to supplement our knowledge attained during the OD program. The theme adopted this year was ‘Confidence with Contact Lenses’, with two major contact lens companies presenting talks to our students. These talks allowed students supplementary exposure to product ranges available and further guidance on fitting multifocal contact lenses in complex settings and triaging difficult contact lens cases.

Semester 2 also sees the reestablishment of Project Spectrum; a program designed to emphasis the importance of colour vision testing within the optometric community. Students will be tasked to create their own colour vision tests that will be available for purchase to the OD community. October will also welcome our annual Bake Sale, which will coincide with World Sight Day – where all proceeds will go towards the Optometry Giving Sight charity.

Then, of course, there is the most coveted event of our calendar, our EYEBALL. This year’s ‘Carn-Eye-Val’ will be held at the Mayfair Ballroom, Grand Hyatt Melbourne. The carnival theme is excitingly a big hit amongst the student body. The event promises to be the most elaborate, wacky, aesthetically pleasing and Instagram-worthy ball ever in UMOSS history, with the committee working on ensuring its success since last November!  The event sold out quickly, with 90% of tickets selling within 24 hours of release. The Eyeball is a perfect way to celebrate the community of staff and students we have within the OD program. We have also promised the students the delivery of one last celebration on the high seas at the conclusion of their annual university exams later in November. All these events and activities are only made possible with the combined teamwork of the UMOSS committee and the committed members of its community.

On behalf of the committee, we would like to thank our hard working student representatives (OD1: Diba Rezazadeh & Louise Jiang, OD2: Adam Barresi & Sushweta Pal, OD3: Ashviney Vigneswaran & Chamasha Dissanayake and BBBS: David Yosua & Ravindri Weerasingha), our sponsors for their generous support towards our initiatives and for the students who have all contributed to our  amazing educational and social events. A special mention goes to Daryl Guest, Allison McKendrick and Tom Cougan for their support throughout the year.

Kieren Do & Julia Nguyen
UMOSS President & Vice-President 2019

2019 HIGHLIGHTS

UMOSS 2019 Committee at the 2019 Eyemazing Race.

Top: Julia Nguyen, Kieren Do and Tiffany Lee. Bottom: Jack Nguyen and Sam Stephenson

UMOSS 2019 Committee at the Annual Trivia Night.

Left to Right: Tiffany Lee, David Winton, Bryant Wong, Baturay Ozcelik, Julia Nguyen, Sam Stephenson, Kieren Do, Jack Nguyen and Joe Tanner.