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20 | CANYON CORRIDOR CONNECTION 2016
K-12 science dynamo spreads
STEM love to our Canyon
Corridor and beyond
by Laurie Merrill
Communi t y Highl ights
With a big grin and seemingly endless
supply of energy, Amanda Hughens,
GCU’s K-12 STEM outreach man-
ager, spreads STEM love throughout
schools in the Canyon Corridor and
beyond.
Y
ou may know Amanda Hughens as Grand Canyon University’s K-12
STEM outreach manager, the force of energy who leads the mission
to cultivate a passion for science, technology, engineering and math
among children of all ages.
But Hughens does much more than serve as educator, professional
development specialist and advocate for STEM programs at GCU and
K-12 schools.
She is a redheaded blur of activity who wears more proverbial hats than
a millinery’s model and whose resumé is rife with adventurous as well as
academic accomplishments.
For example:
• President of the Arizona Science Teachers Association? Check.
• Earning an MBA from GCU while working full time? Check.
• Starting a foundation to help underserved children? Check.
• Wife, mother and Girl Scout troop leader? Check, check and check.
“I have a problem with the word, ‘no,’ ’’ said Hughens, speaking from her
office in GCU’s Academic Affairs Department, her signature grin spread
across her face.
That Hughens brims with technological know-how might be surprising
to those knew her as a writer, search-and-rescue diver, 7th grade science
teacher or volleyball, basketball and track coach.
That she is on the cutting edge of STEM curriculum might prompt a
quizzical look from her former fellow pre-med students and her hunting,
hiking and fishing buddies.
Hughens wears so many hats it can make your head spin, yet she does it
with aplomb.
Even Hughens herself might have been amazed, at the dawn of her passage,
to learn where she would arrive one day. She was once certain she was
heading full-steam ahead toward a medical career.
“I kind of fell into the tech world,” Hughens said.
Frommedicine to education to STEM
Hughens grew up as one of four children and the daughter of a defense
contractor. They moved often. Hughens spent her senior year at Agua Fria
High School, where she received her diploma. When she enrolled in the
University of Arizona’s pre-med program, she fully expected she would
become a doctor.
Her life veered in the summer of 1992. Because she had been a lifeguard for
many years, the Rural/Metro fire service offered to finance her underwater
search- and- rescue training. She became an emergency medical technician,
and spent the summer looking for drowning and other victims.
The grim experience taught her that medicine was not her calling, despite
her aptitude for science and math.