Join Council!

Alexandra Mossman:

As the Stats and Actuarial Science Department Director for the Math GSA, I prioritize representing the students within my department, listening to their concerns, and helping volunteer in whatever ways I can to promote their best interests, whether this is at departmental meetings, Math GSA meetings, or social events in which I can volunteer to help foster a welcoming atmosphere. By serving on the GSA Council, I would value the opportunity to partake in GSA Council meetings to help build a stronger connection and solid communication between my department and the GSA.

I am a first year PhD student in biostatistics at the University of Waterloo, having completed my master’s degree last year online here as well. I have volunteered for several events within my department since starting my grad studies, including the DataFest 2021 event in spring last year and the 2nd Waterloo Student Conference in Statistics, Actuarial Science, and Finance, as well as social events held by the Math GSA (coffee and doughnut days on campus, and online games nights). In my spare time I enjoy hobbies such as board games, cooking, crocheting, and socializing with friends over coffee.

Joseph Meleshko:
I don’t have a specific motivation or policy I’m intending to push for at the GSA. Instead, I believe I’m a satisfactory candidate to effectively advocate for the graduate students of computer science. I’ll gladly discuss any facet of GSA policy or any other concerns that anyone wants expressed to the council at large. I think it’s important for all graduate students to have representation at the GSA and I’m happy to take up the mantle for computer science.

Ben Szoller:

I am interested in being a Student Council representative because I think it’s critical that students within the Religious Studies department are represented in the GSA, and that they also contribute to the student life and culture at Waterloo. Because I serve as the graduate student representative for the Laurier Waterloo Joint Religious Studies program, I have a strong sense of the issues and concerns for students within the department. It’s also important to note that I am nominating myself for this position because it has been vacant for several terms—if there is another nominee from the RS department, I would be happy to remove my candidacy.

Cloe St-Hilaire:

I believe that involvement and representation is important is academia. My intentions in serving on the GSA Council is to represent the interests of my fellow Planning students, with a focus on equity and advocacy. Since the School of Planning acts as a “home” for a multitude of people coming from various background, I vow to represent the interests of my cohort and take special attention to giving space for women, BIPOC, the LGBTQIA+ community and people with disabilities. To fully represent the interests of my fellow planning graduates, I plan on maintaining an active social role in the school, by attending events organized by the Association of Graduate Planners. I will also remain available via email and chat to any issues or concerns they might want to raise to the school, while respecting wishes of anonymity when that is the case. I want to be present and make sure that my colleagues feel comfortable interacting with me, so that we can foster an environment of exchange. My goals will be to ensure that contents, events, speaker series and other school functions provide representativity for the diversity we embody as a cohort, empower minority populations, provide a critical outlook to academia and offer flexibility and space for constant improvement.