Nicole Schmidt

Biography

Nicole Schmidt is currently pursuing a BA in political science and a BA in international relations. To foster her passion of creating more opportunities for women to be involved in politics at the national and international levels, she collaborated with Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations under the Girls Belong Here program where she discussed female representation in Canada’s federal government and at the UN. She completed a civil litigation internship with the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Colombia in Washington, DC where she conducted research on gender equity and racial justice issues. In 2022, she worked with Young Diplomats of Canada, ahead of the Youth 7 and G7 summit in Germany where she advocated for policies beneficial to youth. Schmidt was also elected president of UCalgary’s Model United Nations Team in 2020-2021 and has been the Under Secretary-General for the University of Calgary’s High School Model United Nations conference since 2021.  

Schmidt was the first two-term female president of UCalgary’s Students’ Union in history, inspiring more female students to seek political positions. Additionally, her commitment to being a voice for students who may feel unheard has led her to have successes such as postponing tuition increases. Since she herself has a disability, Schmidt has focused much of her work on improving the lives of students on campus. She worked with the Students’ Union VP Academic in 2022 to support the creation of the first scholarship for students with disabilities at UCalgary. Recognizing the importance of students’ mental health, she also secured an endowment for the Students’ Union Mental Health Award so that it can continue to be awarded to students with a passion and commitment to mental health advocacy. She also implemented a “compassionate grading” option for students in 2021.  

In 2021, Schmidt participated in the Daughters of Vote program, where she discussed the matter of including more women in politics with Members of Parliament and in turn received the Dr. Rosemary Spears Leadership grant. Additionally, she was a founding academic executive member of the Women in Politics student organization at UCalgary, which aims to encourage more women on campus and in the local area to take part in politics. She spoke recently at various events hosted by the Apathy is Boring non-profit organization about her experiences as a woman in leadership roles, was a founding academic executive member of UCalgary’s Sustainable Development Goals Alliance (SDGA) in 2018 and in her position as director of communications, facilitated a two-day conference for UCalgary students. Nicole was also the project assistant for Sustainable Cities, a Calgary-based program where students partake in an immersive one-week program to learn about social issues such as homelessness while also volunteering in the community.