Archive for December, 2015

Hundreds of children and their family members munched cookies, did crafts, played games and visited with jolly old Santa during Grand Canyon University’s annual Canyon Cares Christmas, which was held on campus Sunday. The smiles on the little ones’ faces spoke volumes.

GCU’s Honors College asks a lot of its gifted students, but it asked a little more recently when it put 22 of them through the Personal Academic Career Boot Camp. Three emerged as the finalists for the $3,000 scholarship by best handling the mock interviewing, networking and professional training.

Colangelo College of Business students got to hear from another outstanding speaker Thursday, and this one truly has a global reach. Amadou Gallo Fall is the National Basketball Association’s vice president and managing director for Africa, and his story is a classic example of making the most of opportunities.

Talk about accomplished people — this week’s Antelope Intros feature a professional writer and an assistant dean who also is a pilot. If you need a little motivation, check out how they’ve gotten things done.

Anyone who ever has been to Chapel at GCU no doubt appreciates the quality and spirit of the music. But how did it get so good? The student leaders who feel privileged to have the opportunity and the people who oversee the process share how the process works and what makes it special.

Dramatic, one-person performances mesmerized a coffee-sipping crowd at Peet’s Coffee Wednesday as speech and debate team members portrayed characters with startling emotional detail. The performers who took the stage were freshmen Thomas Gleason, Chrycia LeGendre and TaylorRae Humbert, and sophomore Chloe Saunders. Topics ranged from a pro-life story about a woman who was raped and decided to keep her baby to prose about how UFC fighter Ronda Rousey is a significant figure for female empowerment. GCU’s team is ranked in the top 20 of the nation, out of 138 schools, said team director Barry Regan, communication instructor with the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. GCU has the story.

The Worship Songwriter Fall Showcase 2015 showed off a talented freshman class, on the heels of all the successes of the first group that came in last year. But most telling was the way the students talking afterward about the way they have collaborated and grown as a family. “It’s really just community at its finest,” said one. GCU Today has the story.

Members of the Havocs student cheering section made their final trip of the semester into the community Wednesday, bringing their spirit — and pizza and other goodies to six local shelters. By all accounts, “Havocs with Heart” paid huge bonuses for both the students and the people they helped.

Jeremy Jernigan acknowledged right from the start of his Chapel talk Monday morning that he was going to discuss a subject not often heard in a church setting — pleasure. He has written a book that puts it in the context of how God wants us to view it and what it means for how we view God.

The latest edition of GCU Today Magazine tees up a cover story on the newly renovated Grand Canyon University Golf Course and what it means to west Phoenix and to the University. See why it’s such a big victory, and watch a video that shows off the transformation from Maryvale Golf Course. The December magazine also features an inside look at how GCU students are being the hands and feet of Jesus in the community, introduces you to five recent graduates of the College of Fine Arts and Production who are having lots of success in the working world, traces the University’s origins as the Antelopes and the evolution of its popular mascot, Thunder, and offers a behind-the scenes look at our own Thunder Dan Majerle.