Archive for June, 2021

Dr. Ana York’s life has been anything but easy. From getting married when she was 14 and having her first child at 15 to having to work long hours while also going to school, York has faced a number of obstacles that could have kept her from obtaining her doctorate. But in the end, her drive and love of education persevered. “I’m very grateful because throughout the process and all of those highs and lows and frustrations, I always saw the hand of God,” she said.

In this week’s Fitness Facts column on physical health, Lily Limon has the details on the dangers of combining over-the-counter medications. Adverse drug events make up an alarmingly large proportion of visits to hospitals and doctors’ offices and can result in being hospitalized or adding time to a hospital stay.

In this week’s #Askingforafriend column on mental health, Kiesha Collins lists the dos and don’ts for active listening. It’s all about engaging and tuning into what’s being communicated.

Elaina Marchegger was chosen as one of the student artists for Canyon Worship 2021 even though she wasn’t on campus — she got an internship at a church in Incline Village, Nevada, and took her final year of classes online. “Forevermore,” which she composed with Nicole Raum, is her fourth song in three years on the annual albums produced by GCU’s Worship Arts students and is just one example of the many ways God spoke to her during the pandemic. Third in a series on Canyon Worship 2021, scheduled to be released in September.

Student response to the Write On group has been so positive, they have continued to meet weekly during the summer. Conceived by Dr. Diane Goodman when she came to GCU six years ago, Write On allows students to share their stories and poetry in a friendly, community-like environment that includes constructive feedback. “It’s such a communal experience. Everyone participates equally and everyone wants to be there,” Kaylor Jones said.

GCU’s new initiative with The Garuna Foundation, a missionary-like organization that spreads God’s Word in Southeast Asia, gave the College of Theology an opportunity to fulfill its goal of specific international cohorts. It wasn’t easy to accomplish, but the can-do spirit prevailed. “They liked the idea and said, ‘What can we do to make it happen?’ It’s so refreshing,” said Rev. Dr. Jeff Ehlers, Chairman and CEO of The Garuna Foundation.

It’s as if recent GCU graduate Weylin Pada was back at college. He watched Claire Lee’s class lesson and immediately could recall the professor who used that teaching method. Pada recently joined Lee and several other Lopes who work at neighboring Empower College Prep and have benefited from the deepening partnership with the school, which shares similar values with GCU.

Jazmine Cordon and her high school team engineered a plant-watering robot to help educate middle schoolers who have seen their share of food insecurity. Fiona Tran’s middle school team wanted to help wheelchair users by designing a wheelchair light to make it safer to navigate pathways at night. The two teams, whose projects’ roots are at Sevilla Elementary School West, just a half-mile from GCU, presented their projects at the virtual MESA USA National Engineering Design Competition on Monday. It was the first time students from the school competed at nationals, something that might not have happened, said Sevilla West STEM educator Mia DeLaRosa, if not for help from GCU’s K12 STEM Outreach team.

In this week’s Fitness Facts column on physical health, Connie Colbert warns of the dangers of too much screen time. By cutting down, you can improve your physical health — and that includes preventing eye issues.

In this week’s #Askingforafriend column on mental health, Kristin Farley has Part 2 of her columns on forgiveness. Today, she lists the steps you can take to facilitate the forgiveness process.