Welcome back! Hopefully everyone had a relaxing break. We have some exciting events coming up this semester. The 2nd Annual OT Job Fair will be in April and we are currently working on contacting the vendors and creating committees to work on all the details. This is a great opportunity to get involved in a very profitable event for SOTA and to potentially meet your future employer! We also are participating in the Polar Plunge, an icy jump to raise money for the Special Olympics; Candlelighters, a group for children with cancer and their families; and many other social, outreach, and volunteering events. There are also a number of students that are making the trip to Texas for the National AOTA Conference and travel arrangements are just about finalized. While there are many events already planned, SOTA is always looking for other opportunities and organizations to get involved in. If you have any ideas or suggestions we would love to hear them! We look forward to making this a great semester and hope everyone can be involved!

This semester SOTA will continue fundraising through Alliant Energy Center events where we volunteer to work in their concession stands. We are also attempting to sign up for Insider Pages, a website based fundraiser of submitting restaurant/business reviews online within a 3 wk period. Information regarding this fundraiser will be announced soon. This year the SOTA chillers Polar Plunge Team has a goal of raising $1,100 for Special Olympics Wisconsin, so if you would like to
donate to a great cause visit: https://www.specialolympicswisconsin.org Thanks and hope you are having a great semester!!!

The social committee is forging on through the winter cold with fun new events for our fellow OT’s. We finished last semester with a playful “Christmas Sweater Day” at school, inviting everybody to dig out their holly-patterned turtlenecks and Frosty-the-Snowman sweaters for a good laugh on the last day of classes. A few brave OT’s took part in the Jingle Bell Run, a chilly Madison run/walk in the middle of winter to support the Arthritis Foundation. Finally, a fantastic holiday party at Brocach Irish Pub allowed us all to relax and socialize after finals, and it was fully equipped with some impromptu open-mic performances! Now after a restful winter break, we are ready for more fun! There are some exciting things happening during the month of February – a night at the theatre, a pizza-and-movie night, and the daring jump into our frozen Lake Monona…sign up to join our team, the SOTA Chillers, for the Polar Plunge on February 21 to support Special Olympics!

This month’s interdisciplinary activities focused on completing projects for the
Healthy Classrooms Foundation. We are currently in the final stages of a mailing
project designed to raise funds for grants and scholarships, and the annual
symposium in April. It continues to be a privilege to represent OT in this
organization, which is made up of medical, nursing, social work, public health, and
physical therapy students. Future interdisciplinary opportunities will include the Body Donation funeral service program set for Saturday, 25 April 2009 at the Health Sciences Learning Center. While the service will be held during the weekend of the AOTA national conference, I hope some OT students will consider attending the service to show our sincere appreciation. According to Dr. Ed Bersu, “The Memorial Service has become a very important event for many donors’ families. Many families especially appreciate the opportunity to talk with the students from the different programs.”

Great job to all students and staff who donated items to this year’s food drive! We managed to fill the giant box in the student room, supply food for those in our community that are in need, and also showed the PTs that the OTs are not to be underestimated. That’s right… the OTs came through in first place in the food drive race and will be awarded the promised pizza party prize from the PTs in the near future. The number of families attending Candlelighters has been growing! Last month, three busy OT students entertained over 10 children. Our students helped the kids color and paint, create foam sculptures and generally make a giant mess before playing mini-golf and racing boats. At the end of the night, the parents joined us for dessert. The number of families attending Candlelighters has been growing! Last month, three busy OT students entertained over 10 children. Our students helped the kids color and paint, create foam sculptures and generally make a giant mess before playing mini-golf and racing boats. At the end of the night, the parents joined us for dessert.