Photos by Ralph Freso
Student government leadership is not for the bashful, judging from day one with students on campus this academic year.
By dawn on Monday, student body president Tucker Hudson already was addressing Phoenix TV news crews on campus about Grand Canyon University and Welcome Week. Hours later, he stood before a packed Global Credit Union Arena to talk to new students and parents at orientation.
“I remember being in your seat just a few short years ago, feeling very excited about this next chapter of my life, but also very nervous about the unknowns and starting a journey away from home,” said the Mountain House, California, native. “So if you're sitting here today and feeling those same emotions, just know it's totally normal.”
Since his election campaign for president of the Associated Students of GCU last spring, Hudson rarely misses an opportunity to evangelize. He told new students about Spiritual Life events, meetings and Chapel.
“In the busyness of Welcome Week, and all through the entire school year, I would encourage you more than anything, dig deeper in your faith. I promise you won’t regret it,” he said. “We are excited to see you in Lope country and even more excited to see what the Lord is going to do in your lives.”
Vice president Dianne Carla Mae Nasibog encouraged students to get involved, make connections and remember that ASGCU can help.
“Last semester, Tucker and I ran on a campaign that was rooted in three main ideas: cultivate new experiences for students; integrate students more into the conversation with the student government; and elevate resources already made available to students,” she said.
And the week was just starting.
Hudson and Nasibog will be visible this week at numerous ASGCU events, tablings and at the spiritual gathering Ignite on Wednesday night.
Hudson says it’s a thrilling time to meet students, especially freshmen, to let them know what they do.
“We are here to help them and listen to their voices,” Hudson said in an interview.
As liasons to university leadership, connecting with students and their parents is important during the first week.
“They want to meet all the new Lopes and share in many of their experiences as they make GCU their new home,” said Jeremy Mack, director of Student Engagement. “As the year moves forward, they know the importance that these early relationships have on building a strong community for all Lopes.”
They’ve been on campus since early August in training with other ASGCU leaders, working on team-building and organizational basics, such as meeting decorum, budgets and calendar invite procedures, while brainstorming ideas for events they sponsor throughout the year.
“We want to hit the ground running,” Hudson said, though their year started not long after their April inauguration.
First, they introduced themselves to GCU.
Hudson is the Northern California son of a police officer and children’s pastor who is studying communications and found friendship and deeper faith at GCU; Nasibog is an Alaskan, born in the Philippines, who is the only child of a correctional facilities nurse mom, and said she came to GCU on a whim and found herself spiritually, professionally and emotionally in the community as a government major.
They went to work quickly with campaign promises, even before summer break. While adding ice machines to campus and introducing “mentoring fairs” are works in progress, last spring they hit up Campus Recreation Director Matt Lamb on another main idea – launching crowd meters at campus gyms.
It’s what Nasibog said she heard a lot from students when she was serving in the student senate last year: they wanted a way to avoid the crowded times to work out at the five fitness facilities by choosing a slower time or a location that wasn’t as busy.
They met with Lamb and campus rec staff several times and looked into solutions, said Lamb. “Using some technology we had in place already and our rec portal (myrec.gcu.edu), our student workers will be posting live counts from the gyms on an hour-by-hour basis,” he said.
They are on a roll and just getting started.
“I’m excited about working with our team. We have a lot of new faces, so it’s exciting to see how far ASGCU can take this after us,” Nasibog said.
Hudson added that he’s looking forward to growing closer to the Lord with the ASGCU team.
“It’s really exciting to do it alongside a bunch of humble and servant-minded leaders, getting to advocate for students and making sure everything we do is representing Christ, while walking alongside each other not just in our professional lives but in our faith journeys,” he said.
Grand Canyon University senior writer Mike Kilen can be reached at [email protected]
***
Related Welcome Week content:
GCU News: Welcome Crew training covers logistics, hydration – and flashing a big smile
GCU News: GCU projects record enrollment of 133,000 students for 2025-26 academic year
GCU News: Cutting classes for first day of GCU Move-In pays off for parent
GCU News: Lavender prevails as Lope Shop embarks on Welcome Week
