Present and past NZOSS presidents Juliette Lim and Georgia Cheng modelling NZOSS merchandise

Just like that, the New Zealand Optometry Student Society (NZOSS) has concluded a highly sociable and fun 10^th year.

After two years of Covid, I’m thankful NZOSS was able to make a full comeback, with the team working hard to organise some amazing events. We kicked off with our annual welcome BBQ, to introduce the new optometry students to everyone. Next was our highly anticipated second NZOSS camp, held at Port Waikato School Camp and filled with games, competitions and team bonding. We also replaced our pub-crawl with a pub quiz, with awesome prizes making the night a major success.

As much as NZOSS loves social events, we recognise we have some introvert students who prefer something more low-key. With them in mind, we arranged an online games and movie evening through social platform Discord. We even made a channel for anyone that enjoys silent company while they study. In semester two, we organised our early Christmas-themed pub-crawl. This event has always been a hit and tickets sell out fast. Our board games night, sponsored by Bailey Nelson, was an opportunity to wind down with some light-hearted competition and pizza after a long week of tests.

NZOSS may seem like a social club, but we also promote education and learning. To bridge the gap between students and the industry, we invited our sponsors to present at our educational seminars to provide a glimpse of the world awaiting us after graduation. We have a couple more events planned, including an arcade and bowling night at Archie Brothers. Held after exams, we can celebrate together with food, drinks and, with any luck, a few strikes! We’ve also planned the part-V graduation dinner, sponsored by Auckland Eye, OPSM, Specsavers, and Eye Institute.

Compared to the previous two years, 2022 has been pretty smooth sailing, thanks to an amazing team of executive members. I would also like to thank our five main sponsors – Eye Institute, Bausch + Lomb, Johnson & Johnson, Specsavers and OPSM – for the support they’ve provided NZOSS over the past three years. Of course, as 2022 ends, so does my term. I would like to offer big congratulations to the new president, Juliette Lim and her executive team for 2023. I’m excited to see what NZOSS achieves next year!