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32 • GCU MAGAZ I NE
Kelly Mains, M.Ed.
in Curriculum and
Instruction:
Reading, ’09,
is a
recipient of the Lee
County (Fla.) Public Schools
Golden Apple award. The award
aims to enhance public education
by recognizing and rewarding
excellence in teaching. Mains is a
kindergarten teacher at Tortuga
Preserve Elementary School.
Christi Louden,
M.Ed. in Education
Administration,
’09,
has been
named assistant
superintendent for Human
Resources of Greenwood County
(S.C.) School District 50. Louden
has spent her entire career with
Greenwood County School District
50. She started as a fifth-grade
teacher at Woodfields Elementary
School in 2000, where she was
named the school’s First-Year
Teacher of the Year.
2010s
Craig Hershey, B.S.
in Secondary
Education with an
Emphasis in Social
Studies, ’11,
is the
new athletic director of Van Wert
(Ohio) City Schools. Hershey
previously served as social
studies teacher, varsity boys
basketball coach and athletic
director at Hardin Northern
(Ohio) High School.
Ana Hill, B.S. in
Accounting, ’12,
was promoted to
senior consultant
for BKD, LLP
National Health Care Group. Hill
coordinates with nursing facilities
to help prepare and deliver cost
reports, analyzes
reimbursements to compare
payments with the costs of
rendering services, and assists
with assurance services.
Ana Torres,M.S. in
Professional
Counseling, ’12,
is
the elementary
school counselor for
the inaugural year of SandyMcNutt
Elementary School in Arlington,
Texas. Torres and her family
welcomed a newbaby in 2014.
Eetu Karvonen,
B.S. in Exercise
Science with an
Emphasis in
Physical Education,
’14 andM.S. in Psychology with
an Emphasis in General
Psychology, ’15,
has been hired
as head coach of the United Arab
Emirates (UAE) national swim
team. Karvonen is a former
assistant swim coach at GCU and
multiple national champion
swimmer in Finland. He hopes to
someday lead UAE swimming to
Olympic qualification.
Elizabeth Bart-
Plange Opoku, B.S.
in Nursing, ’12, and
M.S. in Nursing, ’14,
went onamedical
mission trip toBienAime, Haiti, with
theMissionHaiti Organization.
Opokuandher teamtaught the
Haitians important healthpractices,
includinghowto treatwater before
drinking, handhygiene, sexually
transmitteddisease preventionand
well-baby care.
James Taylor, Ed.D.
in Organizational
Leadership in
Organizational
Development, ’14,
is
the new executive director of
Utah State University’s Uintah
Basin campus. Taylor will oversee
operations of the Roosevelt and
Vernal locations.
SPOTLIGHT
Brittany McKinney, ’16
New lesson plan: teacher in Tonga
Brittany McKinney came to GCU to
become an elementary special education
teacher, but that changed at a job fair when
she walked up to a Peace Corps recruiter
sitting at an empty booth and learned that
she could take her skills overseas.
McKinney, who graduated in April, has
joined 24 other recruits to teach English
in Tonga, located in the South Pacific east
of Australia, for the next two years. The
21-year-old is excited to represent Arizona and her alma mater.
“I am so passionate about this because I know I have so much
knowledge to share,” she said.
In Tonga, her hope is to improve education and to begin her quest
of setting up a library for the community. McKinney said her well-
rounded education from GCU has prepared her to take on any life-
changing experience — even if it means leaving her mother, Paula,
and their two cats for the first time.
Once her service is completed, McKinney plans to earn her
graduate degree in deaf education from Boston University.
—JEANNETTE CRUZ
Christal Zeigler, ’96
Fostering hope for children
When no one else is willing to open their
heart and their home to a child, GCU
alumna Christal Zeigler (B.A. in Psychology,
’96) passionately advocates for the young
lives of more than 19,000 children in foster
care in Arizona. Her goal is to break the
generational cycle of foster care by creating a
healthy, safe and supportive environment for
biological families.
“If biological families could see different ways to parent, then
children could learn what a healthy model of love looks like,” she said.
“And I believe that whether they return home or they’re adopted, they
will have a chance to positively affect generations after them.”
Zeigler has been an adoption specialist at A Place to Call Home for
15 years and has spent 20 years in social services. She has appeared
regularly on AZ-TV’s Morning Scramble to highlight foster care and
adoption and to feature children who need a “forever home.”
Zeigler had her own struggles growing up — she lost her mother
at 16 and grew up with a single father. That’s why the feeling of loss
resonates with her.
“God gave me a passion for this generation and for these children,”
Zeigler said. “These are my children and they’re amazing.”
—JEANNETTE CRUZ
GCU
Alumni