Health Sciences student Joy Khalil marks milestone as first-ever Laurier Scholars Award graduate

June 14, 2024

When she crossed the convocation stage in June, Wilfrid Laurier University Bachelor of Health Sciences student Joy Khalil became the first-ever Laurier Scholars Award recipient to accept a degree. 

First presented in 2021, the Laurier Scholars Award is the university’s most prestigious entrance scholarship, providing high-achieving students with $30,000 toward their studies and $10,000 for an experiential learning opportunity. Recipients are provided financial support, peer and faculty mentoring, and opportunities to become involved in the community. Students also join a supportive community of fellow Laurier Scholars Award recipients.

Khalil credits the Laurier Scholars Award program with helping her succeed. Her faculty mentors, Professor and Department Chair Robb Travers and Assistant Professor Melody Morton Ninomiya supported her throughout her time at Laurier and helped her make vital connections within her program and with Laurier staff.  

"My faculty mentors have guided and supported me since day one," says Khalil. "They gave me the support I needed to kickstart my professional and academic journey."

Khalil’s passion for research was fostered through these connections. Her most impactful research is related to the advancement of inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility (IDEA) initiatives within the department of Health Sciences.  Khalil was the first student representative on the Health Sciences IDEA committee, a newly formed initiative assessing IDEA efforts within the faculty.   

“We surveyed all Health Sciences students to try and understand the strengths and gaps of the program in terms of EDI,” she says. 

Though the committee hasn’t published its findings yet, Khalil found that many students agree that Laurier is a welcoming environment and that Laurier faculty members are at the forefront of incorporating EDI within course content.  

“Laurier is very accepting of change and the university actually invites students to participate in that,” she says.  

Khalil’s mentor Morton Ninomiya says she continues to be impressed by her initiative. 

“One of the things that I appreciate about Joy is that she’s not just a knower but a real big doer,” says Morton Ninomiya, who serves as Canada Research Chair in Community-Driven Knowledge Mobilization and Pathways to Wellness. “Our synergies are well aligned in the sense that almost all of my research is about making sure that what we do and what we know is useful in ways that extend beyond ourselves. I know that’s how Joy thinks as well.” 

Khalil also founded CultureXchange, a student club that focuses on celebrating the diversity of the Laurier student body through events like Student Culture Day, which she created in 2023.  More than 200 students attended this year’s Student Culture Day on Laurier’s Waterloo campus in April 2024 to experience food, music, fashion and dance from 35 different countries. Khalil says she was inspired by Laurier’s dynamic cultural diversity.   

“I was born in Egypt and then I lived in Kuwait for many years,” she says. “Being in a Middle Eastern country, I wasn't exposed to as much diversity. That is something that I always loved about Canada and when I came to Laurier, I wanted to celebrate it in some way.”  

Reina Stewart, student care coordinator in the Dean of Students Office, says there are already plans to further expand Student Culture Day next year.  

“The fact that Joy was able to create a space for students of different cultures to come together and celebrate differences is just amazing,” says Stewart. “Events like this are much needed on campus. She’s created the foundation and started something at Laurier, and we're hoping that we continue that legacy for her.”   

Next for Khalil is medical school at the University of Ottawa, where she hopes to continue applying her research interests to help patients, especially in children’s and women’s health by focusing on pediatrics or obstetrics. “I felt like I had the support that I needed to be able to succeed in whatever I did at Laurier,” says Khalil.