Our student year in review - student reports

Physiotherapy Student's Association 2018 Report

"Just like that, 2018 is over and what an outstanding year it turned out to be.

The Student Executive team worked long and hard organising and operating social events, formal evenings, sporting activities and volunteering days for our students.

The Student Executive team from 2018
Back row from left: Alex Barnsley, Nick Williams, Dylan Booth
Front row from left: Katreena Drake, Hannah Shaw, Sherry Malik (President), Philip Blanchard

The School of Physiotherapy is well known for its fantastic social life and positive student environment. 2018 proved no exception.

We did our best to keep you updated you on some of our events and successes but much more goes on throughout the year.

Our students took part in social sports every week including basketball, football and netball – always great ways to get a little bit of fresh air and have a bit of a run around with fellow physios.

We feel lucky to have had the opportunity to organise and run these social sports evenings. Not all student groups have the commitment and drive to make such things happen and one of my favourite things about our group this year was the amount of energy that went into social sports events.

Volunteering is a vitally important part of the year for the PSA.

We ran our annual Massage Day again to help celebrate World Physiotherapy Day. Students get to practice their skills helping members of the Dunedin community by giving them a massage in return for a donation which goes to a charity of our choice.

From the proceeds of our team's efforts we were able to donate over $500.00 to Parafed Otago for their great work with athletes. Physiotherapy also entered a team in the 24 hour Relay for Life to help raise funds for the Cancer Society. In an almost unbelievable effort we raised close to $6000.00.

Social events were as popular as ever. Highlights included the Physio Ball held this time at the Otago Settlers Museum - such a beautiful venue, the Wine and Cheese evening, the annual and hilarious Miss Physio event, and a number of cultural dinners.

Our last big event for the year was our Third Year Leavers' dinner.

On this amazing night all our third years got to say their final farewells before parting ways for points all around the country and even further.

After a series of hilarious prizes and awards had been handed out, the night closed with everyone (including every single staff member) up on the dance-floor.

I would like to say on behalf of this year's Executive team that it has been an absolute pleasure running all these events. Without the wonderful support of the staff and student's the Physiotherapy Students' Association would not be possible.

Thanks to everyone involved with our association and I wish the 2019 team the best of luck"

Māori Physiotherapy Student's Association 2018 Report

Ngā Raukura O Tāne Whakapiripiri (Māori Physiotherapy Students' Association) at Otago supports 2nd, 3rd and 4th-year students to strive, collaborate, learn, and accept opportunities which become available to them during each academic year.

In 2018 we supported Peer-Assisted Study Sessions (PASS) for 2nd year students, organised specific tutorials for 2nd and 3rd years, and backed 12 students to attend the Physiotherapy New Zealand Conference in Dunedin in early September.

Back row from left: Abbey Patterson, Rosey Acker, Witana Petley, Wyllis Korent.
Front row from left: Stanley Muru, Callum Raumati, Wai Pryor, Bridget Watson, Tobias Hoeta, (Ricky Bell), Karaitiana Smith.

We also helped two students make their way to Auckland in November for the Ngā Pou Mana Indigenous Research Conference.

Our group took part in and contributed to inter-faculty roopu competitions and challenges, and organised a memorable end of year dinner.

We particularly noted the achievements of Bridget Watson, who received a Freemasons University Scholarship in 2018 for leadership and community engagement, to help fund her studies, and Tobias Hoeta who received an HRC Māori Student Summer Research Scholarship in 2017/2018 and carried out a systematic review which looked at 'Evidence for culturally valid pain assessment tools for Māori'.