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CANYON CORRIDOR CONNECTION
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Mueller recalled a time a few years
agowhen he sawseveral students
fromAlhambra High School milling
around the GCU campus. He
approached the group to find out
what they were doing.
“They told me they had never
seen grass this green,” Mueller
said. “They wanted to stay a little
longer.”
Those students, from an urban
area of Phoenix known more for
concrete and dirt, are now not
only welcome on GCU’s resort-
like campus, they have part of a
new classroom building they can
call home.
A groundbreaking public-
private partnership dubbed the
Learning Loungewas launched
in 2013 to create a spacewhere
Alhambra students can come to
campus and receive free tutoring
five days aweek fromsome of
GCU’s brightest students.
The partnershipwas developed
to improve the high school
students’ academic performance
in core areas of study and also has
become amentoring program
inwhich those students receive
college life experience and, for
some, realize that they can become
the first members of their family to
go to college.
The Alhambra students, 90
percent of whom fall below the
federal poverty level, also get free
meals through a partnershipwith
St. Mary’s Food Bank.
“Students at these urban
schools are not liabilities, they are
assets,” Mueller said. “If we get
behind them, there’s no limit to
what they can do.”
After just one year, the results
have been impressive. Nearly
300 Alhambra students have
visited the Learning Lounge and
received more than 1,000 hours
of tutoring. Alhambra, a D-rated
school two years ago, is now
just 10 points away from being a
B school and leads the Phoenix
Union High School District in
geometry scores and passing
grades in math classes.
Students from
nearbyMaryvale and
Bourgade high schools also are
visiting the Learning Lounge.
“The Learning Lounge is just
one example of Grand Canyon
University’s commitment to our
students and community,” said
Kent Scribner, superintendent of
the Phoenix UnionHigh School
District. “Our students are
experiencing a college campus
environment while building
relationshipswith current
university students. They not only
tutor but also serve asmentors
who share their experiences and
what it takes to be successful
beyond high school.”
5. Supporting K-12 outreach
At his State of theCity address,
PhoenixMayorGregStanton
stressed the need todevelopmore
college graduates inArizona—
especially in the areas of science,
technology, engineeringand
mathematics (STEM)— inorder to
developabetter-educatedworkforce
that can stimulate the economy.
Phoenix lags below the national
averagewith only 27.7 percent
of adults ages 25-34who have
a bachelor’s degree or higher.
Compare that to San Diego (36
percent), Seattle (39.4), Austin, Texas,
(40.8) and Denver (42.2).
What’smore, anestimated 1.2
millionSTEM jobswill be available in
Arizonaby 2018, yet its universities
are producing just half thenumber of
graduates needed tofill this demand.
States like Texas, which hasmore
than 100 public and private four-year
institutions of higher education, are
attracting newbusinesses because
of the large number of STEM
graduates they can produce.
In an effort to close the
Arizona gap, GCU reached out
to local industry to help it launch
several academic programs
in the newCollege of Science,
Engineering and Technology (CSET).
The university is developing a
comprehensive STEMcurriculum
with programs in computer science,
information technology, information
systems, analytics and engineering.
The first half of a new
160,000-square-foot CSET
classroomand laboratory building
along Camelback Roadwill be open
for the 2015-16 school year.
“Arguably, our No. 1 challenge as a
community for our future is the need
to have greater college attainment
among our workforce,” Stanton said.
“We needmore peoplewith college
degrees in the sciences, in business,
in education, in nursing … and that’s
exactly what this University is doing.
It’s helping us tremendously.”
4. Developing a STEM workforce
GCU students will have
more opportunities in
engineering and other
STEM-related fields with
the launch of the College
of Science, Engineering
and Technology.
photos by darryl webb