WUSA 101: Meet Your New Board of Directors

A graphic showing "WUSA 101 Meet Your Directors-At-Large!" with 11 individuals pictured in a grid. Each individual, wearing business casual attire against various backgrounds, represents the new Board of Directors. The design features a green and blue patterned border.

Meet your new Board of Directors! Here, this group of dedicated individuals share their values, perspectives, and plans for the upcoming months in their new roles. Read below to get to know each member, and what to expect from their time with us!  

Chen Chai (he/him), 4A Software Engineering: 

  • I am interested in increasing funding and support for clubs 
  • I have first-hand experience running student clubs and organizations, such as mathNEWS and Drag Club, as well as governing bodies like the Board of Directors of the WCRI housing co-op \
  • I am so excited to hear the perspectives of students on student life and other topics! 

Rania Datoo (she/her), 3B Legal Studies:  

  • I am passionate about access to physical and mental healthcare, access to housing, student safety on and off campus, and inclusion!  
  • I have been an avid and outspoken advocate on social justice issues ever since I was in high school where I post informational and opinion pieces on Instagram to spread awareness 
  • I look forward to working as hard as I can to bring positive change to improve student life as much as I can 

Catherine Dong (she/they), 3B Math:  

  • Wellness is big for me—as a community, we’ve got a long way to go in supporting student mental health, accessibility, food security, etc.  
  • I spent a bit over a year sitting on WUSA’s previous Students’ Council, and then I spent 16 months as the VP Student Life on last year’s Executive team 
  • I’m grateful for the opportunity to connect with the next generation of student leaders!  

Marie Jolicoeur-Becotte (she/her), 4A Health Studies: 

  • I am specifically interested in mental health, accessibility, and academic issues affecting students! 
  • I’ve been with WUSA for 2 years now as a board member and councillor, but I was also the VP for the Pre-Medical Society until the beginning of this year, and I worked for campus housing for 2 years!
  • I’m most looking forward to seeing our new governance system pan out to achieve the impact goals it was created for 

Daud Khan (he/him), 1B Systems Design Engineering:  

  • I want to improve the co-operative education process!
  • Other involvement of mine includes: AVP – Co-op & Experiential Affairs
  • I am looking forward to striving for continuous improvement, and to brainstorm on projects! 

Jay Lan (he/him), 3A Math & Business Administration Double Degree:  

  • I am passionate about co-op student workers’ rights! Some of coop students are mistreated by their employers, and co-op students aren’t protected by the Ontario Employment Standards Act 
  • I was a member of MathSoc Council when I was in my first year. I was a Math Councillor on WUSA student council last year 
  • I am excited to push the student workers’ rights project forward 

Karen Nguyen (she/her), 4B Health Studies:  

  • I’m passionate about improving UWaterloo students’ lives regarding health access, and international students’ support 
  • I worked with different international communities on campus such as International Canadian Student Network (ICSN), International Peer Community (IPC), and RenisonELI 
  • I’m looking forward to working with all the WUSA board members and staffs to advocate for students and successfully bring improvement to students’ quality of university life 

Matthew Schwarze (he/him), 3A Math & Business Administration Double Degree: 

  • Affordable housing is the key issue affecting students right now and something I am hopeful to provide support on 
  • I was the previous VP Operations & Finance at WUSA. I’ve also served as a councillor, MathSoc President, and Undergraduate Governor on the UW Board of Governors 
  • I’m looking forward to working with the rest of the Board and lending my expertise to the rest of the Board to help achieve the goals that students voted for 

Naman Sood (they/them), 4A Computer Science:  

  • Academic and co-op advocacy for students; making sure our learning has our input in it, is a priority of mine!
  • CS and at-large councillor and board member at MathSoc, writer and editor at mathNEWS 
  • I can’t wait to wait to set the stage for change to happen and then watch it all come together  

Angela Souza (she/they), 4A Biomedical Engineering:  

  • Students having greater access to Counselling Services and a greater sense of community with other student on campus, is something I am very passionate about 
  • WUSA Student Council in 2021-22, Internal Funding Committee, various engineering and WUSA community involvement 
  • I am excited to collaborate on important student facing issues with my fellow Directors! 

Jeff Zhu (he/him), 2B Computer Engineering:  

  • Housing is a core issue that I am interested in helping with!
  • Prior to getting on the Board, I worked with WEEF (Waterloo Engineering Endowment Foundation) as a Director!
  • I look forward to seeing concrete improvements to WUSA’s housing resources 

Thank you to our Board of Directors for sharing their thoughts and ideas, we can’t wait to see what you all achieve in the upcoming months! 

Published: Thursday, October 27, 2022

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