Theresa Nguyen

Program & Year of Study
2A, Mechatronics EngineeringTop three platform points
1. Rejuvenating campus culture and fostering community! UW needs a resilient and welcoming campus where all students can belong. The university's response to the attack at Hagey Hall has done little to address the underlying culture of student atomization. Efforts to foster community are confined to departments, preventing inter-faculty connections. Humanitarian crises abroad have left students feeling isolated and unsupported. Tackling each of these issues begins on-campus. I'm committed to implementing and maintaining more third places around campus, running long-term, recurring events to connect students with tight schedules, and planting strong, ad-hoc support structures in place for student-facing crises. A close-knit, vibrant community is a safer and more engaged one.
2. WaterlooWorks? I sure hope it does B-) Having used WW to get all of my co-op placements so far, I'm pretty familiar with its pain points. I'm advocating to add mandatory pay and benefits information, implement an offer negotiation period, and strengthen protections against workplace harassment. Let's tap in external labour boards and lobby like heck for students. Labour advocacy and rights don't stop at co-ops and interns. WW should serve the interests of the students it's for, first and foremost.
3. Affordable housing! Rent-controlled, off-campus housing. I'm pushing for a partnership with WCRI to grow UW off-campus, upper-year accommodations to ensure housing remains AT COST! Students deserve to apply to housing comfortably and not feel like they've won the lottery for an overpriced unit. Let's shift the pressure to navigate the chaotic rental market away from students, and let me do the landlord-fighting for you.
Reason why someone should vote for you in 100 words or less
I've always done advocacy in grassroots ways: working with Faculty of Engineering community wellness, CEE Co-op Student Council, and academic advocacy with the Engineering Society. But the issues that I wanted to tackle quickly felt out of scope of the faculty. I'm running to prioritize and protect students' well-being with actionable steps and a distaste for "doing things the way we've always done". I'm going into this with fresh perspectives on student needs outside of WUSA. I believe in students and the power we have to change things for the better. Renew student trust, renew student voice, renew Waterloo!
Links to any website, social media accounts and/or email address
Email me or our team about my platform or any other concerns! t36gnuye@uwaterloo.ca / renewwaterloo@gmail.com
Check out more about our platform and about the other awesome folks I'm running with:
IG: @renew_waterloo
TikTok: @renew.waterloo
Reddit: u/renewwaterloo