Abigail Giacchetta Arts & Science Representative
Abigail Giacchetta is a second-year student at the University of Lethbridge, majoring in neuroscience and minoring in information and communications. As a Neuroscience Major, Abigail enjoys learning about the brain, which led her to pursue an independent study researching how enrichment improves brain function. Aside from her research, Abigail enjoys learning about different fields of science along with studies in the humanities, using the knowledge to expand her worldview. Outside of her education, Abigail takes part in various extracurricular programs and groups. iGEM is where she spends most of her extracurricular time as the Human Practices Team Lead. She organizes events to improve community involvement in synthetic biology, educates local individuals, and ensures that practices and protocols are ethical and meaningful to the community. Abigail also takes part in the University of Lethbridge Bio Club, where she helps with the many activities that the club puts on for the students to promote biological science. The Everactive Schools Youth Advisory Council is a group that Abigail is especially fond of because of their goal to improve the health of youth in school and promote active play. She has helped with their podcasts, the Shaping the Future Conference, and with creating activities focused on helping youth develop better employment skills. In her free time, Abigail enjoys daydreaming about getting more sleep. When she should sleep, she loves baking for her friends and serenading her family with her trombone playing. Reading is another love of hers, with all genres welcome into her little library.
What do you know about the position you are running for?
What are some of the initiatives you would like to implement if you are elected?
Abigail has 3 main issues she aims to help resolve while in the Students’ Union. Abigail’s first point is to ensure that kids understand the resources available to them so that they can make the most of their university experience. There are so many wonderful resources that the university has provided for the students, but she has found that many of them are unnecessarily difficult to find. This creates gaps between students who can access the resources and students who cannot. Abigail believes that if there were better advertising to promote the resources of the university, more students could find resources to help them succeed. It will also help students to have a more enjoyable experience at the university. Another point Abigail hopes to promote is developing connections between students and faculty. Being a smaller university, there is a tremendous opportunity for connections between students and faculty to form and grow. However, she believes this oversight could create a gap between students and faculty. If opportunities arise for forming these connections, students can learn about their professors’ research, how they developed their career passions and tips for greater university success. Overall, it would enhance the sense of community within the university. Last, Abigail aims to help low-income students succeed more at the university. Many students cannot get the most out of their education experience at university because of stress regarding money and loans. Abigail believes that everyone who is excited to come to university to learn should not have to spend more time struggling to afford to go than enjoying what they are learning. We should promote resources, and we should also increase resources for those students. All curious minds should be able to grow without affordability blocking their path to a bright future.