Eriel Strauch says she was honoured to receive the 2025 Lloyd Dennis Award, which recognizes full-time students for their contributions to the university's welfare through their student activities. 

Her wish to build a sense of community and solidarity among the student body motivated Eriel to think of ways to make people feel more welcome. 

“Going to university can feel overwhelming—to put it lightly,” Eriel says. “This is a sentiment a lot of students share, but at the same time, it’s an experience that feels individual and isolating. By connecting people to each other and to resources, I want to help them feel like they are part of a community and their experience isn’t necessarily an isolated one.”

The third-year environmental sustainability student’s personal journey has been defined by persistence and curiosity. 

Like many students, the pandemic disrupted Eriel’s postsecondary studies. She needed a break and a reset.

After a few years in British Columbia, a lingering desire to learn brought Eriel home to Barrie, Ontario, where she enrolled at Lakehead University’s Orillia campus.

When she arrived in 2022, one of her priorities was to get involved in campus life. After realizing that there wasn’t a space for people who are passionate about spending time outdoors and learning about and researching nature, she co-founded the Lakehead University Nature Enthusiasts Club with friend and fellow student Olivia Vaughan. What began as a casual group has grown into a vibrant community of students and local residents.

“Our goal since conception has been to encourage the community to get out into nature and learn about the world around them,” she says.

The club blends environmental education with creative outreach, encouraging students and the community to explore nature through field outings, in-person events, photo contests, and weekly newsletters—showing that learning can be both fun and impactful.

Eriel is also founder and president of the Jewish Students’ Association (JSA), a cross-campus initiative connecting Jewish students, staff, and faculty in Orillia and Thunder Bay. In a time of increasing antisemitism, the association provides a space for discussion, education, and solidarity, she says.

“The JSA is a way for Jewish and non-Jewish community members to connect and feel like they have a support system when there are occurrences of antisemitism in school or outside of school. It’s a place to talk about Jewish history and philosophy, a space where we can come together as a community and share our views and not be judged for it.”

Eriel will graduate in December 2025, and hopes to pursue a master’s degree in biology.

“I wasn’t inclined toward school when I was in high school,” she explains. “There was a time when I thought about dropping out, and I’m so glad that I didn’t! Now, as an adult, I really value learning and bringing the opportunity to learn to others.”

“Working with the Office of Community Engagement and Lifelong Learning this summer, I’m seeing people who have a penchant for learning pick up knowledge on their own as they move along in life, and that’s so inspiring.”

Since 2011, Lakehead University has presented the Lloyd Dennis Award for outstanding citizenship to a full-time student at the Orillia campus to recognize their contributions to the welfare of the university through their student activities.

The award is named in honour of the late Lloyd Dennis, an Officer of the Order of Canada and Order of Ontario, and a highly respected educator and author best remembered for the 1968 landmark report that shaped the future of education in Ontario—Living and Learning: The Report of the Provincial Committee on Aims and Objectives of Education in the Schools of Ontario, known as the Hall-Dennis Report.

An enthusiastic proponent of the Lakehead Orillia campus, Lloyd Dennis was honoured with Lakehead’s Civitas Award in 2009 and a Doctor of Laws in 2012 (posthumously).