Archive for July, 2020

There’s a national teacher shortage, a numbers problem GCU is helping address. GCU’s K12 Educational Development hopes its webinar training on teacher certification tests adds up to a solution. Wednesday’s training was the first virtual session on a subject tough to so many across the country trying to pass the certification — math.

“After beating cancer, it’s harder to look at a future because you’re so stuck in the past and absorbing the fact that you do have a future,” said Austin Thacker, one of the 54 recipients of the Children’s Cancer Network’s John W. Luttrell Scholarship for pediatric cancer survivors, their siblings and parents. Six of those recipients, including Thacker, will attend GCU in the fall.

Kayla Hartson provides two more workout routines that could spice up your week.

The stresses are adding up. A pandemic, social unrest, working from home, loss of income and freedoms. Now think of the mental health professionals trying to help the public deal with all that. It can lead to stressed-out counselors, too. “It’s easy to forget that they have a burden because they carry everyone else’s burden,” said Dr. Chis McBride, fulltime faculty in Behavioral Health Sciences who produced a Loom presentation on stress as part of GCU’s partnership with Southwest Network, a mental health provider in Maricopa County.

With Arizona temperatures reaching serious heights this week, it’s a good time for some reminders about beating the heat. Heather Tyndall of the GCU Environmental, Health & Safety Department has some tips, starting with one you might not know about when to start hydrating.

In this week’s Fitness Facts, Connie Colbert provides everything you need to know about kidney stones. And there’s one thing you need to know about preventing them: Drink water. Lots of water.

In this week’s #Askingforafriend column on mental health, Lauren Dixon tackles a pertinent topic these days — distress tolerance. She likens it to driving into a tunnel you didn’t want to enter. Here’s how to get out.

In times of struggle birds of a feather fly together; at least that’s how GCU Dance Director Susannah Keita sees it. With the pandemic’s huge impact on the arts community, Keita saw an opportunity to bring dance alums together via Zoom to discuss tips and advice on how to get through the pandemic and continue your career in times of COVID-19.

Daniela Barrera spent more than a few of her winter breaks working alongside her mom in the agricultural fields around Yuma, where she grew up. So when the GCU Biology/Pre-Med alumna would hear her high school teachers talk to students about becoming an engineer or an architect or a graphic designer, those careers seemed unreachable to her — until now. Barrera recently was accepted into medical school at Midwestern University’s Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine. “This is what I want to do for the rest of my life. … Just to see the difference it can make,” she said.

Luke Elliot never imagined that he’d be working in medical insurance when he decided to pursue a business degree at GCU, but last month he joined Aetna as a senior project manager. The experience taught him that connections with professors can pay off and a business degree can be valuable in many fields.