Omar Gaballa (he/him) is a 2B Honours Physics student, hailing from KW as a local, but having lived in P.E.I. and all across the United States.

At Waterloo Omar turned his community passion into fervent student advocacy. In October Omar took on provincial level issues at OUSA through WUSA, tackling key concerns with other student leaders from across the province. As a member of the WUSA Advocacy Positions Committee, he fought back against increased student surveillance by the WRPS and continued to push the university to be more transparent with their finances.

Omar has also taken an active role in VFP (shoutout) standing in solidarity with the struggle of the Palestinian people while sharing in the vibrancy of Palestinian culture. Solidarity he tries to embody on all levels of professional and personal life.

Omar’s advocacy fever didn’t start at UW however. He has been a grassroots community organizer, advocate, and bike mechanic for years. Most of his work has been in community justice and active transportation. As a part of Red Raccoon Bike Rescue (shoutout RRBR) Omar fights for an affordable, climate friendly, accessible Waterloo Region. As a part of this work he represented RRBR and that vision at the Kitchener 2051 Block Party and helped provide free bikes and repairs at libraries in the community.

Other things Omar is/has been actively involved with include: the GRT Transit Customer Panel, Bike Check, The Working Centre, and the Mayday Picnic KW.

In the wild, Omar can be observed still climbing V4, cycling the block, or leaving lots of “helpful feedback” on Engage Waterloo Region.