SU general election: Senate representative
Ophelia Vecchione
Second-year Kinesiology student Ophelia Vecchione is running uncontested to represent the Senate in the 2026 Student Union (SU) General Election.
Vecchione is the current Co-President of the Breathe Easy SU club. She was also a panel speaker for the New Student Orientation and has run a project with the Scholars Academy.
In their interview with the Gauntlet, Vecchione expressed the need to increase Senate visibility: “The Senate, they’re a governing body here at UofC, but not a lot of students know that that’s a thing. They deal with a lot of community outreach and making decisions on [the] university’s reputation and what can we do about it,” said Vecchione, highlighting that as a “wellness advocate,” the Senate is a unique resource through which to champion students’ health.
Vecchione’s platform advocates for “higher-quality, more frequent wellness programs,” since “[w]hile wellness programs exist on campus, a disconnect remains in how they reach students.” In her interview, she elaborated that “especially with the events around mental health and wellness and the different programming, people don’t necessarily utilize the Women’s Resource Centre or the Faith and Spirituality Centre as much as they could be.”
Vecchione discussed the importance of running a campaign despite running uncontested: “I’m trying to put myself out there. I’m going to campaign because I want to help students learn what the Senate is and what being a Senate rep even would mean.”
In Vecchione’s platform, she discusses how she wants to better inform students:
“You can’t benefit from a resource you don’t understand, so I aim to demystify its responsibilities and provide you with regular newsletters to update you on current discussions. By keeping you informed, we ensure that the student-community connection is a two-way street.”
In her interview, she additionally proposed making resources and information regarding Senate meetings and updates about what’s going on available on D2L for first-year students.
Another point on Vecchione’s platform was to “continue to recognize excellence with a broader, more holistic approach. […]This includes pushing for more scholarships to ensure leadership and genuine community impact are recognized just as highly as grades.”
“You can push to do incredible things outside of academics and still impact the university, and I want to promote the idea that everyone finds success differently,” she explained in the interview.
Vecchione concluded her interview by discussing the importance of visibility in strengthening trust between students and the student body:
“I really wish, especially at UCalgary, that students knew that there are resources here for you, there are people here for you,” she said. “Whether that’s the governing bodies or student resources, I think there’s more available than we think.”
“There’s no limit in finding support and pursuing what you want to,” she said.
Overall, Vecchione demonstrates a solid understanding of the need for visibility in student governance and the importance of student engagement. Her platform could benefit from being more in depth on specific Senate-level initiatives and how she would navigate these institutional structures to achieve her goals, but her obvious passion for student outreach cements her as a worthy candidate for the Senate Student-At-Large Representative.