USG Presidential candidate Fabio Saccaomanno (Eric Yang/The Daily Campus)
You may have seen their posters and campaign promises across campus and on social media, but now’s your chance to go beyond the politics of the presidential and vice presidential candidates for the upcoming Undergraduate Student Government (USG) joint elections. Voting is now open and closes on March 7 at noon, so make sure to log onto vote.uconn.edu to cast your votes. Yesterday, we featured the campaign team of Dylan DeMoura and Matthew Zancewicz and today we’ll be featuring Fabio Saccomanno and Talha Bhatti. Priyanka Thakkar and Manny Chinyumba will be featured tomorrow on the final day of voting.
Fabio Saccomanno, Presidential Candidate
A fresher face in the USG Senate, fourth-semester molecular and cell biology (MCB) major Fabio Saccomanno from New Fairfield began serving as a Senator for commuter students last semester. However, he considers himself a veteran of UConn’s Travel Model United Nations team. He joined the team last year and has served as president for the present school year.
In conjunction with Saccomanno’s MCB major, he also takes part in research on zebrafish embryos with Dr. David Daggett. A self-proclaimed scholar, he prides himself on his schoolwork, but he also has branched out with his passion of French culture.
“I always find something to do that is school-related, because to be honest, I enjoy my schoolwork,” Saccomanno said about his free time. “I am also passionate about French culture and language so you may find me chilling on occasion with my French-speaking classmates.”
Saccomanno even has a favorite place to complete his schoolwork.
“I love the basement of the biology and physics building next to (Up and Atom), the cafe,” Saccomanno shared. “My spot is in the table next to the wall of windows.”
With his major, Saccomanno hopes to get accepted to UConn Medical School and has big plans for the future.
“I want to become a dually-certified psychiatrist and family medicine physician to tackle the mental health crisis as a primary care doctor,” Saccomanno said. His ultimate goal is to become the first medical doctor elected President of the United States.
At least Saccomanno will remember his alma mater no matter where he ends up. He takes his UConn pride with him wherever he goes, confessing that the best part of being a Husky is “seeing a UConn t-shirt far from Connecticut and saying, ‘I go there!’”
Talha Bhatti, Vice Presidential Candidate
Having joined Travel Model United Nations with Saccomanno their freshman year, Talha Bhatti has been able to work up through the ranks and now serves as treasurer for the acclaimed team. Besides working with his fellow campaign partner on all things Model UN, Bhatti plays violin in the UConn Chamber Orchestra.
“My best experience so far at UConn is being a part of UConn’s Travel Model UN team and all the wonderful friends I (have) made along the way,” Bhatti said.
Besides that, he spends his free time like any other college student, which he rightly deserves.
“Somehow I have free time!” Bhatti, a fourth-semester chemical engineering major from West Hartford, said. “I love hanging out with friends, watching soccer, binging Netflix, movies and other shows.” His favorites include “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” “Star Wars,” “Sherlock,” “Star Trek” and “Doctor Who,” to name a few.
As for his favorite spot to frequent, Bhatti likes to kick it with the bustling student body at the Student Union. If not, you can find him at the chemistry building, an apt environment for the chemical engineering major.
“I want to get a challenging engineering internship, (as well as) get our Model UN team ranked in the Top 10,” Bhatti said in reference to his short-term goals. He’s still working on long-term plans for the future, “But the CEO of a company sounds nice.”
Hollie Lao is a campus correspondent for The Daily Campus. She can be reached via email at hollianne.lao@uconn.edu.
