Hello and welcome from the 2019 New Zealand Optometry Student Society (NZOSS) executive.

NZOSS has just completed its fifth year as the student society for optometry students, acting as a professional platform to bridge the gap between current students, future colleagues and professionals in the industry. We’re amazed by just how much growth the society has seen with our latest event, a summer BBQ, resulting in the largest turnout we’ve ever had for the event!

We’re also pleased to welcome lots of new faces to the 2019 executive committee, with their many brilliant and fresh ideas, and we’re excited about developing NZOSS further as vehicle for optometry students to gain the most from their university experience. We had a successful orientation day where we helped the new part II students by providing lots of useful tips, goodie bags and yummy food, along with ice breakers to help ease the new students into making what will inevitably be lifelong friends and colleagues.

Our team has also been working busily to organise this year’s many social events, including Round the Bays, our annual camp, BBQs, quiz nights and the annual EyeBall to name a few. Plus, we are organising several academic seminars to be held throughout the year for students to gain valuable information and broaden their networks with those in the wider optical industry.

NZOSS places a huge emphasis on student support thus, this year, we are re-implementing the ‘buddy system’, pairing part II students with those who have recently completed part II and are able to assist with any queries they have. It’s been great seeing so many of our older students step up to volunteer their time to make the transition into optometry as smooth as possible for our newer students.

If you have any suggestions, ideas or would like to support NZOSS and our future endeavours, please email us at nzoss.uoa@gmail.com.

It’s looking to be a promising year and I look forward to sharing it with you.