GCU Today April Digital Issue 2018

1 2 • GCU MAGAZ I NE JEDIDIAH WOODS MAJOR: BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION “One of the things I love about GCU is that there’s a lot of diversity.” I t makes me sad to see people I grew up with who have lost their dreams. They had so much ambition in high school, but I think part of it is that they didn’t have the atmosphere around them to push them toward that. I’m grateful that I was able to go to a place that allowed me to follow my dreams but was affordable, too. When I first visited GCU, I immediately felt a vibe of innovation, both on the campus and in Phoenix as a whole. I thought, “Man, people DID follow their dreams in places like this!” I didn’t have any family to plug into here, so it’s like you have to find yourself. I love new chapters, but it takes time to get your feet underneath you, to see the atmosphere and what to do. But then sophomore year I got plugged into this ecosystem of taking your passions and building them into something sustainable. That’s been the reason why I really loved GCU. It was the people who got me going. Luke Amargo was my resident assistant my freshman year, and we became really close friends because of the Writing Club. Then he brought me on for this business idea, Storage Together, that eventually won the Canyon Challenge. That really kickstarted it for me. I also helped bring TEDx to GCU, and now I’m involved in a project for the Admissions department – telling the stories of people on campus. The coolest thing about our campus is the people. People look at it and say, “I want to be in a place with those kinds of people.” Last September, we launched Thoreson Watches, which we want to use to raise money for tutoring and mentoring of refugee children – a $60 watch equals 60 minutes of tutoring. It doesn’t just read time, it gives time. I’ve been a resident assistant the last two years. The cool thing about that is that it ties together a lot of my passions. To me, it’s not necessarily a job. It’s a good excuse to go in somebody’s room and just say, “Hey, how’s it going?” It’s given me a sweet platform to reach out to people. Recently, a guy came to me because he’s converting from Islam to Christianity and is preparing to get shunned by his family. It’s just wild to see someone who saw me and said, “I want advice from that guy.” It’s cool to see that people see Jesus through me and see the blessings I’ve had. One of the things I love about GCU is that there’s a lot of diversity. There are Christians, there are non-Christians, there are people who don’t care about Christianity. There’s not really a Christian bubble, and that’s a good thing. My dad’s a pastor and I come from a Christian high school – to be able to plug into the Christian atmosphere but also interact every day with people who aren’t Christians, that’s been amazing. I would tell incoming students to be prepared to listen. Listen more. Listen to people. Listen to people that you know you disagree with. And don’t listen to them out of contempt. Listen to them with sincerity, actually trying to see what the world looks like through their eyes. Listen to people whether they’re homeless right outside our gates, whether they’re refugees down the road, whether they’re classmates, whether they’re teachers. Talk less and listen more. That’s been the best thing in my life. I’ve learned the most from that. I’ve grown the most from that. I feel like most of my ideas have come from that. photo by ralph freso