The President's Report is published on a semiannual basis, looking back on the trimester that was.
Trimester 1, 2020
This year has been a tumultuous one with many changes altering the course of what was a steadily designed plan. Whether that be through COVID-19 and the interruptions that were caused, or the transition to online learning, we are now in a place where we can begin to acknowledge the valiant efforts of all our students who continued to work during these times and the efforts of the GUAPS teams.
Throughout the year, our ultimate goal, as always, is to represent the students the best we can and enhance their university experience through adjunctive educational or social events. Throughout the duration of the first trimester alone, we were able to achieve this through adjusting to online environments.
To begin the year, we had record sign-ups that has allowed us to reposition ourselves and redirect our efforts to capitalise on such a large base of support. This is largely due to many first-year students being so welcoming to the GUAPS team on orientation day and what a day it was! Our sales of AMH2020’s this year was one of the largest overall sales we have seen than in many of our preceding years. These books went to students and interns who are all in need of its golden knowledge. Bouncing from the sale of our current books, all of our unused 2017/18 AMH’s were donated to pharmacies in Papua New Guinea that are less accessible and with fewer available resources.
From our AMH’s to education events, we achieved in meeting our goals. Unfortunately though, our ‘What is Pharmacy’ event that was planned fell on the way side with all on-campus events cancelled. However, through the great redirection and resilience of the GUAPS team and the education chair Chloe Bergquist, we were able to offer consecutive OSCE practices to help students prepare for some of the scariest exams that we see. With this wind in our sails, be prepared for trimester 2 and the education events we are preparing for you then.
Finally, in regards to all of our social events, we aimed to please! We initiated Mindfulness Mondays led by Nicole Barreto (Pharmacy Awareness Chair) to help ease students into the week using skills to help ‘re-centre’ ourselves and prepare for what is to come. Following on from those calming days, we got the heart rate pumping with our Strava Running Competition. The win went to our second-year students, with our highest total distance over the few weeks of the competition going to Stephanie Hall, an amazing effort that we are rewarding with one of our AMH 2020s! Taking a step back though, before we got the chance to get into all of these activities, we had the opportunity to join QUTSPA and QPSA in Brisbane for a networking night that we are certain not to forget. In the spirit of collaboration and a desire to build greater bonds between our student bodies, we are also holding an upcoming joint trivia night that also includes JCUPSA. Thus, making it one of the first, true, intra-Queensland events.
We are thankful for the efforts of the team and the support from all of our members and look forward to what next trimester holds. Keep a special eye out for the GUAPS Ball to be held in the latter portion of the year. We look forward to seeing you there!
Kind regards,
Joshua Clements
GUAPS President
Throughout the year, our ultimate goal, as always, is to represent the students the best we can and enhance their university experience through adjunctive educational or social events. Throughout the duration of the first trimester alone, we were able to achieve this through adjusting to online environments.
To begin the year, we had record sign-ups that has allowed us to reposition ourselves and redirect our efforts to capitalise on such a large base of support. This is largely due to many first-year students being so welcoming to the GUAPS team on orientation day and what a day it was! Our sales of AMH2020’s this year was one of the largest overall sales we have seen than in many of our preceding years. These books went to students and interns who are all in need of its golden knowledge. Bouncing from the sale of our current books, all of our unused 2017/18 AMH’s were donated to pharmacies in Papua New Guinea that are less accessible and with fewer available resources.
From our AMH’s to education events, we achieved in meeting our goals. Unfortunately though, our ‘What is Pharmacy’ event that was planned fell on the way side with all on-campus events cancelled. However, through the great redirection and resilience of the GUAPS team and the education chair Chloe Bergquist, we were able to offer consecutive OSCE practices to help students prepare for some of the scariest exams that we see. With this wind in our sails, be prepared for trimester 2 and the education events we are preparing for you then.
Finally, in regards to all of our social events, we aimed to please! We initiated Mindfulness Mondays led by Nicole Barreto (Pharmacy Awareness Chair) to help ease students into the week using skills to help ‘re-centre’ ourselves and prepare for what is to come. Following on from those calming days, we got the heart rate pumping with our Strava Running Competition. The win went to our second-year students, with our highest total distance over the few weeks of the competition going to Stephanie Hall, an amazing effort that we are rewarding with one of our AMH 2020s! Taking a step back though, before we got the chance to get into all of these activities, we had the opportunity to join QUTSPA and QPSA in Brisbane for a networking night that we are certain not to forget. In the spirit of collaboration and a desire to build greater bonds between our student bodies, we are also holding an upcoming joint trivia night that also includes JCUPSA. Thus, making it one of the first, true, intra-Queensland events.
We are thankful for the efforts of the team and the support from all of our members and look forward to what next trimester holds. Keep a special eye out for the GUAPS Ball to be held in the latter portion of the year. We look forward to seeing you there!
Kind regards,
Joshua Clements
GUAPS President
