Inside VetSoc at Surrey
Joining a society is a fantastic way of making new friends, expanding your network and enriching your Surrey experience. We asked VetSoc president Gemma to share her insider info on what the society gets up to and why it’s a great idea to join.
Please tell us a bit about yourself.
My name is Gemma, I’m 21 and in my third year of studying Veterinary Medicine and Science. I have always had a love for animals and have wanted to be a vet ever since I can remember! The committee in 2021/22 sold us VetSoc in Freshers Week - they pitched it as a fun way to meet people on the course, socialise and learn a bit more about areas of the course we were particularly interested in.
What is the Veterinary Society all about?
Although VetSoc is an academic society, it’s much more than that. We have clinical clubs for every aspect of the veterinary world such as equine, farm and companion animals, who run weekly talks with external speakers around topics of interest.
We also have three sports teams who compete in intramural matches with other teams at the University, as well as other vet schools on days such as Vet Varsity and the Association of Veterinary Students. We also do a lot of charity work, have Vet Music (made up of an orchestra and a choir that perform at VetSoc events and meet once a week to play informally together) and a fantastic wellbeing team.
In terms of socials, we are renowned for are our society bar crawls and our annual Vet Ball! But we also run sober socials too, such as wellbeing walks and movie nights.
You don’t have to study Veterinary Medicine – we encourage people on other courses to join and currently have biosciences and law students as members. Everyone in the society is lovely and easy to chat to!
What does your role as president involve? What’s the best thing about it?
Being president involves organising and running events that are taking place in the society and delegating tasks to other members of the committee to ensure the society runs as smoothly as possible. It has also involved doing presentations for new students and talking to prospective students about the School of Veterinary Medicine and the society itself.
Why should students join VetSoc?
It’s a great way to meet new people outside of the lecture theatres (I met my group of friends through VetSoc in first year!) and enjoy a social. You also don’t have to study Veterinary Medicine – we encourage people on other courses to join and currently have biosciences and law students as members. Everyone in the society is lovely and easy to chat to!
What’s the most interesting or exciting event that VetSoc has been involved in recently?
Our most recent big event was our Christmas bar crawl – we had around 200 students take part and we donated £1 from every ticket sold to a charity which helps people who can't afford to buy Christmas presents. We also held a Movember social where we managed to raise over £200 for men’s mental health charities.
To see what VetSoc is up to visit @surreyvetsoc on Instagram and Surrey VetSoc on Facebook.