This season, we are focusing on pedagogies that empower. We are asking students to share specific educational experiences that are inclusive and inspiring and how other instructors could incorporate them into their courses.

For our first episode, we have not just one, but four student guests: Asha Thapa, Jessica Ho, Angelina Joseph and Niraj Joshi, all international students that participated in a bi-weekly theatre-based workshops hosted by Rita Dhungel, Assistant professor in the School of Social work and Shelley Liebembuk, Associate Professor of Theatre, and Director of UFV’s School of Creative Arts. The students tell us how Rita and Shelley created an inclusive space through shared meals and theatre activities, including image-theatre, a technique for non-actors developed by Augusto Boal. The students provide powerful advice for UFV faculty and staff about how to cultivate reciprocal and caring relationships between students and instructors.

To learn more about image-theatre: https://www.learningforjustice.org/magazine/imagining-change-through-image-theatre

Rydel Cawile, a General Studies student from the Philippines, tells us what it was like to come to UFV as an older student with a wife and two young children. He likens being an international student to trying to build and maintain a house of cards: one card falls - tuition, work, family, health - and it threatens the whole structure. He urges instructors to keep in mind the mental and emotional toll that can take and to keep incorporating flexibility into their courses.

In this special episode recorded in Chandigarh, India, we catch up with Lovesangeet Singh Aulakh. After graduating from UFV and Fraser Valley India with a Bachelor in Business Administration, Lovesangeet returned home to India in 2018 to launch a successful start-up. Lovesangeet tells us how his experiences of receiving packages from his family shaped his current business, Countryside Express. He reminds us of the power of community in supporting international students who are far from their families and encourages faculty to make time and space to encourage young entrepreneurs like himself.