Fall 2025 1L Election
Introducing your Candidates!
The 2025 Election for this years 1L representatives is underway! The campaign period will last from September 13th-September 22nd with the candidates forum taking place on September 22nd at 11:30am in the common room.
Voting will take place September 23rd and 24th. Watch your UM email for a voting link.
Familiarize yourself with the platforms of all the candidates below!
A01 Representative
A02 Representative
Noah Kornelson
What’s good, what’s really good? Y’all already know I’m Noah Kornelsen (he/him), one of your 1L Section A02 Class Representative candidates for the 2025-2026 academic year.
I graduated from the University of Winnipeg with a BA in Criminal Justice this June. Since 2020, I’ve been chronically active in Winnipeg’s inner city, volunteering with different community-based organizations and working to support Indigenous leadership in the city. These experiences brought me to law school. For work, I ran City of Winnipeg-owned swimming pools which developed my own leadership capabilities and saw me representing different groups between frontline staff, supervisors, and the union. I’ve got years of experience mediating conflict, organizing between parties, and staring down the bureaucracy: skills I believe to be paramount in service-oriented roles such as class rep.
1L is a huge change for all of us, so it’s important to stay regulated; outside of class, you’ll find me lifting heavy at the Active Living Centre, cooking thrifty student meals, and participating in several Robson Hall extracurriculars. I also love to pet my cat, Gunter (pictured).
I’m a real Mr. Chatterbox so stop me anytime you see me on campus to talk about anything. I’m an open book and love learning more about my fellow students. We’re all best friends forever for the next 3 years, so let’s build real relationships and make our class the greatest student body in the entire universe.
Raina DeGroot
Hello! For those of you that don’t know me let me introduce myself: my name is Raina DeGroot, and I am so excited to be running for your 1L A02 rep! Here is a little bit about me so you can get to know me more than just academically: I graduated from the University of Winnipeg with a BA in criminal justice, and I am the middle child with one older and one younger brother. As for activities, I am a very passionate cheer coach to girls ages 6-18, and I love weightlifting and boxing! In my spare time (however I am not sure I will have much of that soon) I like to hang out with my family and puppies or do some reading (romance is preferred). My main motivator- I love food. If you need a quick way to my heart, always start with food!
Why am I running for this position? For me, as soon as the rep position was announced, I knew this was something I was passionate to pursue. I believe in strong advocacy, strength in community and speaking up for what you both need and want. I want to help make sure that no one gets left behind on this journey through law school, and that is a big reason that I want to run. Additionally, I would like to be the person who brings your concerns forward and your ideas to life in A02. We all have the common interest of making our first year memorable and I would like to play a role in this goal. Please feel free to share with me any of your ideas or just stop in the hall for a chat! And don’t forget to vote on September 23rd and 24th!
A03 Representative
Nia Sharma
Hi Friends! If we haven’t met yet after all the icebreakers, my name is Nia Sharma, and I’m running to be A03’s 1L Rep. I did my undergrad in political science, largely focusing on human rights and advocacy in crisis areas, which first inspired me to see how a legal career can be a catalyst for meaningful change.
Since advocacy is what drew me to law in the first place, I feel that a position supporting my classmates' interests is a natural step in my law school journey. It is in all our best interest to have someone looking out for us, and I would be grateful for the opportunity to do that for you. From the high standard of education to the great social side of law school, I think we can all agree, we want it all. My goal is to help make that happen. I have always been someone who speaks up for what people want, and whether that is a clearer outline for an assignment or a study night playing Criminal Code Jeopardy together, I will make it happen.
I want to listen to what matters to you and see those ideas realized. I hope the impression I’ve made over the past couple of weeks shows just how open I am to conversation with everyone. Let me use my love of talking for good and make sure your voices are heard this year. I’m chatty, but for your sake!
It has been wonderful getting to know you all so far, and I hope you’ll let me continue to show just how much I care about our law school experience. I promise to bring you advocacy without apathy and make sure our first year is one to remember. Vote Nia for A03 1L Rep!
