If you’ve been observant this semester, you may have noticed a bunch of people running around calling themselves the Science Society.
“What’s up with that?”, you may think. Surely science students are too busy setting their eyebrows on fire and wearing sweater vests to find time for social interaction? Besides, I thought they were all loner weirdos who prefer spending all night with a test tube than with a babe at a party?
Fool! Throw off the mantle of your prejudice, and open your eyes to the truth—scientists love to party as much as the next person! And while I’m not gonna deny that there are times when we get pretty excited about staying late running experiments, believe me when I say that doesn’t stop the science crew from rocking the Casbah.
In fact, if you look through the annals of history there is a long and rich tradition of scientifically minded people who were also the life of the party. From Leonardo da Vinci to Richard Feynman, there’ve been countless scientists you’d love to have sitting at your table.
Victoria University of Wellington Science Society (or VUWSS for short) wants to challenge the stereotypes of scientists and at the same time—and I quote—“help babes
meet other babes for babelicious good times.”
VUWSS is a social and professional society for students of all kinds of science at VUW. So whether you study physics or chemistry, biology or geology, whether you are a postgraduate astronomy student or you simply took that one paper in psych in first year, this student group will represent you.
Like the other longer-serving rep groups around campus, the Science Society has a couple of main goals. The first is to serve participants in science by providing them with opportunities to meet up and work together. We help students meet with other students, in their field and in others; with academic staff, travelling visitors and speakers; and with members of the professional sci-tech industry. Whether your aim is to make professional connections, learn from experts, or simply to find some new friends to socialise with the Science Society is there to help you.
The second aim of the Science Society is to represent and promote members of the scientific community among the general populace from the university level all the way up to the national level (one day we shall broadcast into space too, but we thought we’d establish ourselves at the university first). This is where the challenging of the stereotypes happens!
But the Science Society is unlike any other rep group at uni. Why, you ask? Because the Science society is brand new! 2011 is the first year in which the Science Society will be active as a rep group at Vic. There are no established rules or traditions you have to follow to get what you want out of it. The VUWSS is a clean slate! A brand new microscope slide! An unsullied beaker! A pristine new dish of Agar jelly just waiting for you to mould it in your hands and turn it into whatever you wish. So if you have an interest in science, get involved! You can