Still, Ross knew it would be strange walking off that
stage with no one to hug and share her joy.
“I told her, ‘Don’t you worry, Ruth,’” Erickson-Moen
said. “She didn’t know what I meant at the time and
I showed her to her seat.”
As Ross’ name was called during commencement
and she walked across the stage to shake her dean’s
hand and receive her diploma, she heard “Yay,
Ruth!” being yelled from the audience. Smiling, she
didn’t know where it had come from, but found
out soon enough when she saw Erickson-Moen
waiting at the bottom of the stairs.
“It meant a lot to me that someone would care
enough that, even though she didn’t know me, she
would stand up as my family and cheer for me,”
said Ross, who completed her bachelor’s degree
in business administration. “It felt great to have
Kimmy do that for me.”
Erickson-Moen volunteered to help at graduation
because four of the students she helped enroll at
GCU were getting their diplomas on that day. She
didn’t count on getting a fifth.
“That’s the joy of what I get to do every single
day,” said Erickson-Moen, who left a manager’s
position at another university in order to become
an enrollment counselor at GCU. “And that’s what
I tell my students. When you graduate, I’m going
to be at the bottom of those stairs. I’m going
to be there waiting for you. I don’t care if your
family comes out because I’m family, and we’re
doing this together.”
That kind of passion and relationship-building is
what sets enrollment counselors at GCU apart.
While Erickson-Moen said other universities are
more concerned about how many students an
enrollment counselor may bring in, at GCU it is
more about putting students’ needs first and
building relationships.
In that role, the voice at the other end of the
phone not only helps students get enrolled and
find the right classes to complete their education,
but sometimes becomes a confidante or someone
who helps a student get through a tough time at
home or work.
Many enrollment counselors at GCU typify that
spirit, but here are three who stand out:
Angella
Mejia
from the main campus,
Claudia Ward
from
the University’s Tempe site and Erickson-Moen
from the Peoria site.
Angella Mejia
As an enrollment counselor on the main campus,
Mejia works with incoming high school students.
Or, as she calls them, “my babies.”
“For me, this is not just a job. It’s not a career, either. I
feel like this is my calling,” Mejia said. “I feel like I’ve
finally found what I’m good at, and that is working with
students and working with families. … God has me
here for a purpose, and I will continue to be here for as
long as He wants me to be here.”
Mejia, who has worked at GCU for 10 years, still
remembers her first “baby,” a student named
Lance who didn’t have the grades to meet
admission requirements.
“He came into the office with his mom. He had a tie
and everything, it was the cutest thing ever,” Mejia
said. “I remember he was embarrassed when I
asked him for his transcripts. I told him, ‘It’s OK, we
all make mistakes. As long as we learn from them,
you should be good in life.’ Of course, they were
not going to admit him because his GPA was low.
“But he really wanted to come to Grand Canyon.
He said, ‘Besides the fact that my mom wants me
to come here, I want to show people that I’m not
done. I just made bad choices in high school.’”
Mejia, convinced that Lance deserved a chance
at higher education, was able to enroll him with
certain stipulations attached, including maintaining
a qualifying grade point average.
“So we built that relationship right there, that trust,”
Mejia said. “When he got admitted, I saw him
every day and he was so happy. His confidence
went through the roof. His mom noticed a change
and thanked me for believing in him and giving
him that hope.”
Lance majored in biology, maintained his grades
and graduated from GCU.
“I made an appointment to go see my eye doctor,”
Mejia said, “and guess who happened to be the
person doing my eye exam? My boy Lance. I was
talking to him and he is getting ready to go to
optometry school in New York. He told me right
there, ‘If it wasn’t for you believing in me and
giving me that opportunity, I wouldn’t be here.’”
Mejia stresses to her students that she is not there
just to get them enrolled, but to be there for them
until they graduate.
“Just because I get them here, it’s not like ‘Thank
you for coming’ and they go their own way,”
Mejia said. “I can’t do that because I now have a
relationship with the students. I have a relationship
with their families. It’s not just numbers. It’s not just
John Doe here. You’re an actual student and an
actual person here, and I’m very blessed, honestly,
to be part of their life. I just do everything I can
to make sure my students are good to go and that
there’s no doubt in their mind that GCU is the
place for them.”
P9
September 2013
Angella Mejia, main campus
“
God has me here for a purpose, and I will continue to be here for as long as
He wants me to be here.
”
