Erin Michalski holds a Pilates class in PAC Studio 1 every Friday at 4 p.m.

With the studio packed full of eager and seemingly returning students, the energy and range of ability levels were all present.

Instructor Michalski sets the tone of her Pilates classes with light, fun music, to which the exercises are intentionally paced in a seamless rhythm.

Just like other UW fitness classes, it starts with a light warmup, focusing on your body as you inhale and exhale.  

At first, I thought the movements were too simple. From the lineup of movements Michalski called “Playful Pilates,” all we needed was the mat. However, with basic exercises like planks or scissor kicks, Michalski asks the class to make micropulses with targeted muscles while holding a position, allowing the tension and burn to be felt. She offers variations to either increase or decrease the difficulty. Adding the repetition of the micropulses made the simple movements increasingly effective and difficult. 

In a more difficult move, Michalski instructed the class to perform seatbelt pushups, in which your arms are crossed with the top arm across your chest, using it to push your body up, and the other arm hugging your abs. 

A more fun move to stretch your spine, she instructed students to roll up on their backs with legs in the air or snug to the body.

It was the first time Leah Greaves, a graduate student pursuing her master’s in sociology, attended Michalski’s Pilates class. “Amazing class. I think Erin [Michalski] is such a bright and energetic person. It made me want to try harder. It was very easy to follow and inviting for all levels. And I did feel the burn; it was great,” she said.

Though less strenuous than other classes, this class is a great way to get your mind off stressors and move your body with joyful instructions. It also provides a great repertoire of effective movements that can easily be done at home without any equipment. The movements feel more beginner-friendly, but if you have the time, repeated sets of the micromovements can definitely improve strength and overall conditioning.

Michalski has been teaching at UW since 2022, with experience as a Pilates instructor dating back to 2019. Her favourite part of teaching is the positivity and energy that comes with it. She instructs another Pilates class at 10 a.m. on Thursdays and a barre class at 7 p.m. on Wednesdays.

With the voting period opening up tomorrow, it’s time to get acquainted with the students running for the 2026-2027 WUSA Board of Directors. There are 15 candidates listed and 10 spots on board.
Voting can be done on vote.wusa.ca starting tomorrow until Feb. 5 at 11:59 p.m. 

Arin Dayal
Dayal is a fourth year honours arts and business student, with a major in economics and minor in computing. His top three priorities include predictable international student tuition, fiscal resilience amid Bill 33, as well as housing transparency and safety.
“The student government already has many passionate students with political mindsets, and we need that energy. But we also need technical mindsets,” Dayal said in an email to Imprint. “While I don’t claim to know every historical detail of WUSA, I know how to make systems work. I have a technical mind — numbers speak to me.”

Arya Razmjoo
Razmjoo is a fourth year legal and communications studies student who served as WUSA vice president from 2024-2025, and director from 2025-2026. His top three issues include expansion of the Bomber (more space, functional charging ports), expanding WUSA events (more free food, more exciting trips) and pushing for more affordable food on campus.
Ramzjoo is running with team Horizon.
“WUSA manages roughly $7 million annually and more than $30 million in total funds. It is one of the largest student associations in North America,” Razmjoo said. “Team Horizon has the experience and platform to address real systemic issues and make campus cheaper, better run, and more memorable for students.”

Becky Chen
Chen is a first year student in honours arts and business. As a director candidate, her goals include creating a recharge space in the SLC with soft lighting and comfortable seating to support commuters and off-campus students between classes, working to ensure campus walkways are cleared quickly by working with the Region of Waterloo and the City of Kitchener, and expanding access to 24-hour study spaces by keeping SLC lounges open around the clock and opening more lecture halls during exam season. As a candidate for Senate Undergraduate Student At-Large, she aims to advocate for no weekend exams and reduced textbook costs through the promotion of open educational resources and expanded library reserves.

Iman Khan
Khan is a fourth year political science student who is serving on WUSA’s board of directors for 2025-2026. Her top issues include ending punitive renege policies, university divestment from Israel, and better degree planning support.
“I have consistently advocated for justice, transparency, and ethical accountability, including supporting divestment efforts,” Khan said. “I am committed to making co-op policies fairer, strengthening academic support systems, and all students on campus are heard and represented in every decision.”
Khan is running with team Horizon.

Jacob Lewis
Lewis is a third year student in mechatronics engineering. His top priorities are advocating for stronger provincial funding for universities, recognizing that issues like rising food costs, high tuition, and inadequate winter maintenance are rooted in chronic underfunding, and will actively oppose further cuts. Lewis also plans to stand up for co-op students, acknowledging that co-op is central to Waterloo’s identity but that students often face challenges such as unreliable systems like WaterlooWorks and restrictive policies, and he will push for a more fair and student-centered co-op experience. In addition, Lewis will work toward greater transparency and accountability within WUSA by ensuring students have a clearer understanding of how their fees are spent and by advocating for stronger oversight and responsibility from the WUSA Board of Directors.
“I am not just campaigning on the ‘right ideas’, I am campaigning on a strong record of success and experience advocating for the needs of students in large, complex organizations, as I hope to do with WUSA,” Lewis said.

Katherine Wang
Wang is a second year environment and business student. Her top priorities include advocating for more quiet study and social spaces on a campus, building a degree tracking tool to help with course selection, and revitalizing spaces around campus.
She is currently Co-President of the Environmental Students Society and skating coach at the Kitchener Waterloo Skating Club.
Wang is running with team Horizon.

Mark Jejeran
Jejeran is in his second year of geography and aviation, however he plans to transfer to science and aviation at the end of term. His top priorities include improving campus events and reopening spaces like the Bomber, strengthening how WUSA programs are communicated, and exploring an airport shuttle for aviation students, informed by student feedback, research into successful event models at other universities, and ongoing collaboration with student groups, creators, tech students, faculty, and local officials.

Mathi Parthasarathy
Parthasarathy is in his first year of honours biology. His top three issues include transparency, collaborative leadership, and turning student feedback into action.
“I’m running because student leadership should reflect the everyday student experience,” Parthasarathy said in an email to Imprint. “I care about building a WUSA culture that feels accessible, warm, and connected to the students it represents.”

Muhammad Kanji
Kanki is a third year chemical engineering student who is serving on WUSA’s board of directors from 2025-2026.

Mujtaba Haider
Haider is in his fourth year of health studies. His priorities include making campus food taste better and cost less, building a better campus vibe by making WUSA services and spaces feel student-first, and pushing back on fee hikes by demanding real transparency from the university.
Haider is running with team Horizon.

Noor Blaggan
Blaggan is a fourth year nanotechnology engineering student. One of his top issues include expanding the Bomber (including student access to the patio) as well as to make it more lively with trivia nights, bar nights and battle of the bands. He would like tenant’s insurance to be added to WUSA’s insurance and make course ratings available to the public for future students.
Blaggan is also passionate about ensuring that the university diverts from Israel.
“I have a deep love for the community I’ve built around Waterloo, and with that love I found it imperative that the university I fund with my tuition isn’t using my money to fund genocides, war crimes, and climate catastrophes around the world,” Blaggan said. “The main initiatives I’d like to mention is forcing the University to disclose its investments across nearly all mediums, from its pension to endowment funds with the help of other student groups across campus.”
Blaggan is running with team Horizon.

Omar Gaballa
Gaballa is a second year honour physics student. His top three priorities are pressuring admin and WUSA to see through divestment and ESG policy in alignment with BDS and eco-justice, continuing to fight back against police surveillance of students on and off campus, and bring in rent-tracking to keep predatory landlords accountable.
“During my time at UW I’ve had the opportunity to meet/work with many passionate student and community advocates, people who deeply care and strive for change,” Gaballa said. “Long paragraph short, they inspire me to put my best foot forward and do the same. Something I feel confident I can do on board.”

Patrik Buhring
Buhring is a fourth year student in math and computer science. His issues include fighting against program cuts and reductions for long-term security, an expanded, lively Bomber, and clear, useful and updated degree planning tools to replace UW Flow.
Buhring has experience advocating for students by being vice president of academics for MathSoc. He is running with team Horizon.

Remington Aginskaya-Zhi
Aginskaya-Zhi is a fourth year math and mathematical physics student who was WUSA’s Vice President from 2025-2026. Their top three priorities include a rent tracker to display increases in student housing costs, tenant insurance, and renegotiate UPass.
“From clubs and MathSoc council and Board to WUSA Vice-President, I know the university’s bureaucracy inside and out,” Aginskaya-Zhi said in their WUSA profile. “As WUSA VP, I travelled to Ottawa to advocate for funding for student housing as part of Build Canada Homes, and I serve as Board Director of the biggest student housing co-operative in North America.”
Aginskaya-Zhi is running with team Horizon.

Veertej Sehdave
Sehdave is in his third year of statistics. His priorities include fee transparency and accountability, protecting students from unjustified increases, and clear, student facing communication.
“As the current MathSoc President and ex-ICSN Coordinator, I have been actively involved in student life since first year and understand how WUSA decisions directly affect students,” Sehdave said. “While I am not driven by politics, I am driven by results.”