Growing up as an only child, Angelina Joseph (BA ’26) loved school — not just for the learning, but because it was where her social battery came to recharge.

“I’ve always loved school,” she says. “I hated when the last bell rang because it meant I had to leave my friends. School was my happy place.”

Years later, that same desire to connect with people would shape her time at the University of the Fraser Valley. Rather than simply finding community, Joseph became someone who created it, helping countless students feel welcome through clubs, events, student leadership, and mentorship. For those efforts, she has been selected as the recipient of UFV’s 2026 Outstanding Student Leader Award.

Angelina arrived at UFV from Dubai in 2021, when the campus was still emerging from the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic. Like many students, she was searching for connection in a community that was only beginning to reconnect.

“As an international student, I know what it’s like to arrive in a new country not knowing anybody,” she says. “I remember signing on to my orientation Zoom call late one night from Dubai and Sarah, the student experience coordinator, blew me away with her energy and the sense of excitement she created, even over an internet connection. That sense of warmth and belonging is what I wanted to give back when I got to campus.”

Instead of waiting for that feeling to find her, Angelina became one of the students who created it.

Over the next four years, she left her mark across nearly every corner of campus. She welcomed new international students, represented students on the Board of Governors and Senate, founded the UFV Dance and Music Club, served as president of the Criminal Justice Students Association, mentored fellow students, and helped organize campus life through the Student Experience Office. Each experience built on the last, expanding not only her own community but the opportunities for others to become part of it.

“One opportunity often led to another because of the connections I made,” she says. “I kept asking myself, ’Will I grow from this? Will I be giving back? Will I help people feel like they belong? and the answer was almost always, ‘Yes!'”

That philosophy was tested in January 2023 when Joseph suffered a serious burn injury that left her bedridden and using a wheelchair for four months.

For the first time since arriving at UFV, she couldn’t be the person organizing events or checking in on others. Instead, she experienced what it felt like to be supported by the community she had spent years investing in.

Friends visited regularly. Faculty and staff checked in. Housing staff connected her with support services, and counsellor Justin Van Winkoop helped her regain confidence throughout her recovery.

Her parents, meanwhile, supported her from nearly 11,000 kilometres away. Unable to travel to Canada, they called every day from Dubai — sometimes staying awake until 2 am their time because they couldn’t sleep without knowing she was okay.

“They’d say, ‘We couldn’t sleep. We’re worried,’” Angelina recalls. “That made me realize that no matter how many times I showed up — or didn’t show up — I would always have people to lean on.”

The experience reshaped how she viewed leadership.

“The community showed up for me even when I couldn’t show up for them,” she says. “I realized my value wasn’t based on how productive I was.”

“I credit my faith as the key reason I kept building community. If one conversation encouraged someone to stay, if one smile changed someone’s day, if one student felt welcomed because of something I helped organize, then it was worth it.”

For Angelina, that’s what community has always been about: passing on the same sense of belonging that first made school feel like home for her.