1 8 • GCU TODAY
THE GROVE
Monorail Stop 2 is The Grove. It doesn’t take
much prompting to get people talking excitedly
about the new housing for 3,410 freshmen.
“They’re the best dorms I’ve seen out of
any college I visited,” said incoming freshman
Shelby Langston of Chandler, who plans to
study mechanical engineering. She’s destined
for Acacia Hall after choosing GCU over
Arizona State University, the University of
Arizona and a private Christian university.
Brandon Clarke said he and other resident
directors got a good chuckle when one student
told him, “They are building what I can only
assume are super dorms.”
“I’m super excited about the culture we’ll
be able to build there,” said Jesi Weeks, who
will be a resident director in Willow Hall.
But the really super thing, Griffin
said, is the idea of pairing freshmen in the
same major, if they so desire, and helping
them get acclimated quickly. In addition
to Student Affairs and Academic Affairs
offices, Juniper Hall also will house “Living
Learning Communities” for STEM (science,
technology, engineering and mathematics)
and honors students.
“We want to provide a better experience,
higher involvement and personal and
professional development in the areas of
academics, social life and spiritual life,” said
Zach Mikutowicz, program/process manager
for institutional effectiveness.
Matt Hopkins, director of Residence
Life, said the expansion process has been
an opportunity for rethinking old ways of
doing things.
“As the University grows, we have to look at
scaling it to the number of students,” Hopkins
said. “We don’t want it to be a mile wide and
an inch deep. We see our role as more than
just providing a place to sleep. We also see
ourselves as educators.”
There’s another aspect to The Grove that
will change campus life for everyone, not just
freshmen: Dropping 3,410 students into a
previously uninhabited corner of campus will
act like a counterweight on a scale.
“It’s really going to tip the atmosphere,”
Griffin said. “It’s going to be on the opposite
side of the campus from where our current
residential space is, and that is going to
balance out the foot traffic.”
The first stop on the GCU monorail is Lopes
Way. Gone will be the all-you-can-eat cafeteria
in the Student Union, replaced by a food court
with three restaurants — Einstein Bros Bagels,
The Habit Burger Grill and Slices Pizza — plus
the soup-and-salad bar and Mongolian 360
Grill that are part of the cafeteria. Qdoba
and Mojo Bowl will remain in their current
locations on the west side of the building.
What now are offices on the first floor of
Prescott and Camelback halls will be filled with
food options instead. Chick-fil-A and Subway
will move from the ground floor of Thunder
Alley and will be joined by Panda Express,
Peet’s Coffee & Tea, and a grocery store with
grab-and-go salads, sandwiches and pastas. The
GCU merchandise store also will be added to
that location.
Mueller envisions a warm, feel-good
atmosphere that will be open until 1 a.m.
and will be a destination for visitors as well
as campus residents. For example, fans
attending basketball games, concerts, theatre
productions and other events will have places
to eat before or after the occasion.
Cody Dumas, president of Associated
Students of GCU, said students rated food
their top priority in an ASGCU survey taken
at its first meeting last fall. And it’s usually
the conversation topic when a student wants
to meet with Dumas one-on-one. The move
away from a buffet-style cafeteria toward more
choices plus the continued use of food trucks
suits their collective palate.
“They like the idea of just more variety,” he
said. “You look at other universities, and more
are switching over to that food-court style. It
will provide more options, which is what the
students want, and they seem to be pretty
excited about it.”
One of those options is the ability to sit
together no matter who eats what. Under the
current setup, anyone who wants to sit in
the cafeteria has to pay to get in there. Now
everyone will be able to eat whatever they
want and sit wherever they want.
“Students are used to food courts. They’re
used to brands,” Griffin said. “Even though you
can have six sandwiches for the price of one
at an all-you-can-eat place, they’d rather buy
one sandwich at Subway because they know
Subway — they’re so brand-conscious.”
LOPES WAY
A construction worker eyes the beams in the engineering building.
