Megan Town
With an undergraduate degree in engineering, Megan Town is not an obvious student advocate.
Though she has no formal background in government relations, she demonstrates her knowledge and expertise with ease. Megan consistently surprises me and our colleagues with her understanding of the Canadian and Ontario legislative processes.
As the Vice President of Education at the Waterloo Undergraduate Student Association, Megan comes from a long line of strong advocates, but she does not stand in their shadow. Megan keeps those she works with on their toes, always flagging government tips and information before anyone else. She is often the first of our group of student executives to identify a student issue and usually has a solution in mind. Megan is quick to show me news articles highlighting the ebbs and flows of government – even if it is after regular working hours.
Megan also brings passion to student advocacy, providing personal anecdotes and student testaments that strengthen our advocacy positions and add a level of humanity to complicated government relations rhetoric. She also fosters dogs in her spare time and has them join us over our zoom calls to brighten up our meetings.
Megan’s dedication to student advocacy shows through her work ethic. She attends meetings with other student unions while on her breaks because she wants to know and contribute to group discussions. She answers emails late into the night. And she puts in the extra work to ensure our advocacy efforts are the best they can be. She does this by ensuring our research is top-notch, by connecting us with government officials at appropriate times, and ensuring our budget submissions are completed on time.
Though she doesn’t plan to pursue a career in advocacy, she sure as hell could. Whatever field Megan chooses, they will be lucky to have her. For now, federal student advocacy in Canada is stronger because we have Megan Town working for students.