Written by Madeleine Jenness, Assistant Editor

*disclosure, Jenness has a personal relationship with Martell as Jenness was a member of Law Society in 2020-2021*

Giannara Martell is stepping into the role of Vice President, previously held by Michael Albellar. She will be a senior in Law, Economics and Public Policy with a minor in Human Rights. She is a Peruvian-American and current President of Law Society at UW Bothell. Her goal is to become a lawyer.

Below are the questions I asked her in an email interview. I have included all the questions I asked and all answers received for the sake of transparency as this is an opportunity and platform for the newly-elected members to self-describe themselves.

Q: What’s been your favorite pastime during the pandemic?

“My favorite pastime during the pandemic was being able to spend more time with my family as we’re usually very busy.”

Q: What in your life and college experience led you to run for Vice President? Especially given the circumstance that you came in as a write-in candidate?

“I’ve always wanted to be more involved at UWB and given the recent events that’s happened these past few years has motivated me even more. It’s been a struggle for me to stay connected with everything being online, but when I connected with Reese Sherman, my colleague and with whom I will be working with this next year in ASUWB, they told me that ASUWB is accepting write-in candidates when I had shared my interest. I took this as a sign and opportunity to run for Vice President.”  

Q: What is something you want the community to know about you personally?

“Something that I want the community to know about me is that I am very passionate about helping others.” 

Q: Can you expand on what you hope to do with increasing UWB and CC community involvement with ACCS and BPD, forming allyship with BIPOC and AAPI community, and be the voice of the community? What do you envision these things looking like?

“I envision CSG and ASUWB to make executive decisions (on behalf of the UWB and CC community) with ACCS and BPD in terms of student safety on campus. 

I envision supporting the BIPOC and AAPI community ensuring their safety on campus where they will feel safe and welcomed coming back to our UWB community. 

I will listen and bring to light the concerns of our UWB community to enact change.” 

Q: You and James Archer, the incoming president, both made a point to address amplifying the voice of the student body and UW Bothell community. How does it feel to be working towards a shared goal with him?

“Honestly, it feels pretty awesome! As a matter of fact, everyone who’s been elected for ASUWB for the next academic year shares that same goal. I feel like we have a great team and believe that we will make positive changes, ensure that all of our voices are heard, and work together as a team to achieve it.” 

Q: What do you think society, especially the community on college campuses, will look like going into next year as we come out of the pandemic?

“It will definitely be a weird experience for all of us coming out of the pandemic therefore a lot of work on our behalf of getting the community back together and providing worthy engagement and experiences to returning, transfer, and incoming students. We have gone through a lot so being able to provide support is very important. I feel like we are more divided than ever due to the rise of hate crime, and racial disparities, especially so close to our campus. But this is something that I am excited to be working on with my team next year.” 

Q: Do you have anything else you would like to say to the community?

“I want EVERYONE to feel safe on campus and ensure that OUR voices will be heard.”