Alumni

The most unusual scene of commencement played out Friday afternoon when a 14-man mariachi band performed for one of the graduates near the 33rd Avenue entrance to campus. It was the perfect surprise, but pulling it off was a challenge for the graduate’s fiancee as well as the Events team.

Graduates of the GCU online program routinely tell incredible stories of perseverance, but Jocelyn Word of Stockton, Calif., took it to the next level. She has done it while raising four children as a single mom and after overcoming a brain aneurysm and the loss of two jobs. “I feel absolutely amazing,” she said.

There were plenty of proud parents in GCU Arena on Thursday for commencement, but none of them were as incredulous as Jesse Dalla Riva’s folks. Their worries of five years ago during his battle with drug addiction have transformed into stunned amazement about what he has accomplished. “It’s complete redemption,” said Jesse’s father, Frank.

Monday night marked the final Canyon Worship Songwriters Showcase for Katie Brown and Harrison Russell, and the two stars of the Worship Arts program went out with a crescendo — they performed side by side for two songs. The way one of those songs came together is an interesting story, and so are their thoughts about their experiences in the program and where it’s headed.

Areahna O’Rea spent more than two years preparing her startup idea, Ninjobi, for the Canyon Challenge, and it paid off Wednesday morning when she took home the $5,000 awarded the winner of the competition. Not only was her presentation well done — one of the judges, Dan Schultz, described her job-placement application as “something unique.”

GCU alumni Felipe Reyes, Dylan Santos and Kevin Llamas created FADES, an app designed to make getting a haircut easier. Their ultimate goal is to link customers with mobile barbers. “It’s going to take some time (to educate people to use the app and to go mobile), but people weren’t doing taxes on their phone not too long ago, either,” Reyes said.

Saturday’s Hall of Fame ceremony showcased several of GCU’s most inspiring stories from alumni who have made a impact on their communities and careers throughout the years. One of this years inductees was Reginald Freeman, who received his masters from GCU in 2008. Since Freeman has surpassed numerous milestones in the Firefighting field and continues to give back to his community in Hartford Connecticut. This year’s other inductees included Randi (Johns) Riggs, Hagir Elsheikh, George Holm, and Sharky Baker.

Photos by David Kadlubowski GCU News Bureau GCU celebrated homecoming Saturday with a wide array of activities, including an alumni golf tournament, Breakfast with Thunder, the GCU Hall of Fame inductions, the tailgate and derby kart races, and the crowning of the homecoming king and queen during the basketball game.      

Mark Rosewaren won’t be on campus for homecoming Saturday, but he’ll be there in spirit — even though he’s on Air Force duty in Afghanistan. But what makes his story interesting is his reaction after receiving some serious GCU swag.

Hagir Elsheikh, one of five inductees into the GCU Hall of Fame on Saturday, is a domestic violence activist and TV and radio talk show host in Pennsylvania and has founded a staffing agency and a nonprofit that helps victims of violence. But long before she accomplished any of that, she had to flee the political violence in Sudan and survive domestic violence in her own life. She was an online nursing student before getting her degree in 2012, and she visit campus for the first time Saturday.