GCU Today April Digital Issue 2018

GCU MAGAZ I NE • 1 1 When I started doing Thunder Vision, I got to lead the program and do two presentations a day to 200 seventh- and eighth-graders. I didn’t have a lot of experience with public speaking, so it was intimidating, but I knew it would be rewarding. I was able to pour into their lives, love on them. Just hearing them out, their worries and their fears, I got to tell them, “You have a chance to change the world.” I wanted to go into counseling, especially with sex-trafficking victims, so my freshman year I got involved with the Dream Center. It was such a humbling experience to be around sex-trafficking victims and realize, “That could be me. These girls are just like me.” Definitely one of the big things at GCU, one of the driving factors, is helping the community. That was something that completely pulled me in. Everybody wants to make a difference here and do some kind of change. It’s moved mountains in Phoenix and this community because these students have this heart. I think it’s partly the school, but most of it, it’s the students. Without the students driving all the community service, it wouldn’t be happening. The students have the heart for it. The school pushes it, but we take it with open arms. The options here to be involved in the Christian lifestyle and ministry are really cool. That’s another thing I love about it. You’re not forced to do anything here – it’s all up to you. If you want to go to Chapel, if you want to go to The Gathering, if you want to be involved in anything on campus, volunteer-wise, you have to make that decision to do it. That shows that the people here really have the heart for it because so many people actually do volunteer, so many people actually do go to Chapel and The Gathering. God has blessed my time here tenfold. I know that God blessed my decision to come here. I don’t think I’d have the cool stories anywhere else. I’m a completely different person than I was three years ago in the best way possible. It’s prepared me for life, for relationships, for marriage, for a future career, personally, emotionally, spiritually, my friendships. It’s monumental how much I’ve grown. I know that people say that you have to change in college, but I don’t think they mean this. It’s been life-changing, and I think it’s been really inspiring for my parents to watch, too. DOMINIQUE BROOM MAJOR: HOSPITALITY “GCU has transformed me as a person.” I didn’t even know that GCU existed, and then in my senior year of high school a GCU representative came and offered a day to tour the campus. For the fun of it, I signed up – I had never been to a college campus and was pretty positive I could never go to a university. I was considered a ward of the state. I hadn’t done very well in school, I had terrible attendance and I had gone to four different high schools. I hadn’t taken my SAT and ACT. I had never seen anyone in my family go to college. I didn’t even know what that was supposed to look like. But as my friends and I were walking around campus, I had this really strong intuition that this was the place I needed to be. I take my gut feelings pretty seriously, and this feeling was so overwhelming. My GCU advisor heard my story and did everything in his power to help me. When I was accepted, he and another person on the board came to my school and personally told me how excited they were for me to come in. I have my essay and acceptance letter still saved. I couldn’t wrap my head around it, but in the moment I was so excited and I didn’t care about the money. I was ready to take out as many loans as I needed because I knew that going to college was going to break a cycle in my family. I was scared, but for the first time in my life, it was a happy scared. I wanted to show God that I deserved this blessing He had given me. I haven’t had support in a lot of my life, but GCU gave me a sense of community. Automatically, I was embraced with open arms and I knew I had made the right choice. Being around so many kids who had had a lot of opportunities gave me a lot of drive. I felt blessed to be around them because it pushed me to work harder. I had no idea what I wanted to do, and I randomly picked marketing. At the beginning of my sophomore year, GCU opened the hospitality program, and I made the switch immediately. I realized that’s what I needed to do. I can’t sing. I can’t dance. I’m not extremely smart. I don’t play instruments. I don’t play sports. The only thing I’m good at is people, and so hospitality was the perfect fit for me. Since then, I’ve grown exponentially. I really found what I love, and the support I’ve gotten from my professors is unmatched. They saw potential in me that I hadn’t even seen in myself, and I gained a lot of confidence, a lot of direction. I do volunteer work and I am a happier person since I came to GCU. GCU has transformed me as a person and that’s why I work hard for the University. I feel like GCU has done so much for me, and I’d like to give it back. I tell everybody how much I love my school. I wasn’t supposed to be here. All of a sudden, I have a commercial, I work for GCU Hotel, I’m speaking at the hospitality classes and it just became so much bigger. It still shocks me. When I say I love GCU, I mean it. photo by slaven gujic