Joseph Flores receives Alex Foto Memorial award
International Development student Joseph Flores is the 2017 Alex Foto Memorial Award recipient. He receives $1,000 to support the costs of his fourth-year field placement in Ghana, where he is working with local communities who are trying to protect their watershed and water supply from environmental threats.
Joseph has been active with ME to WE and other social justice work, including leading a campaign against unethical mining practices while in high school, and he has served as a peer success coach at the Student Success Office. He has also managed The Unaccompanied Minors, a local a cappella group.
“Alex Foto’s legacy is something that has touched me during my time at Waterloo and makes me very proud to be an International Development student,” Joseph wrote. “I even had a chance to volunteer alongside Alex at a WE Day event in Toronto a few years ago, from which her passion and leadership have always stuck with me and inspire me to this day.”
Gráinne Ryder, manager of International Development field placements at St. Paul’s, said, “Joseph's commitment to social and environmental justice is outstanding. He’s been involved with these issues for many years and I am delighted he is the recipient this year.”
The Alex Foto Memorial Award was created to honour Alex Foto’s legacy and inspire others to “live like Alex.” She was a charismatic St. Paul’s student studying International Development who cared deeply about humanitarian and anti-poverty issues, but passed away in a tragic accident in 2014.
The award is given annually to a student studying International Development at the University of Waterloo and is embarking on the fourth-year field placement. The field placements are made in partnership with World University Service of Canada.
