Campus Life

“I wanted to pay it back,” GCU Enrollment supervisor Michael Rodriguez said at the GCU Volunteer Fair on Wednesday at the 27th Avenue office building as he signed up at the Big Brothers Big Sisters booth. Rodriguez himself was paired with a Big Brother when he was a kid. BBBS was just one of the 20 GCU-supported nonprofits employees were able to connect with at the fair, an event GCU Community Outreach Manager Debbie Accomazzo calls a “matchmaking opportunity.”

The Lope Shop will have a lot of space to fill as it moves into its new home in the old College of Doctoral Studies. The campus retail store will be going from 1,800 to 9,500 square feet and will include a Nike concept store, boutique, women’s fashion area, technology department and much more. The 12-week build is getting underway this summer with plans to reopen the store in its new home a week before students return for Welcome Week.

Not many college students get to perform in a venue as big as the 7,000-capacity Grand Canyon University Arena. But that’s not the only boon of performing with the University’s three eight-member Worship Team bands. The student musicians and vocalists also refine their craft, connect with students during Chapel and The Gathering, become family with the close-knit group of Worship Team musicians and, of course, inspire those who listen with messages of faith.

Jose Monarrez is a Students Inspiring Students scholarship recipient. He also came out of the Murphy Elementary School District. So when Grand Canyon University needed learning advocates (LEADs) to help Murphy students, Monarrez was more than happy to do so. He writes about his experience in My LopeLife, reprinted from the April issue of GCU Magazine.

The top 10 stories of the academic year at Grand Canyon University begin with a no-doubter — the University’s non-profit application being approved by the Higher Learning Commission. But there was a lot of other big news, and then there was the development that peopled just loved.

Emily Pottinger and Dr. Meredith Critchfield of the College of Education have started a new podcast, “Top of the Class,” that’s designed to inspire teachers and raise up the profession in a variety of ways. “Let’s talk about ‘How do we do it best?’” Critchfield said. “What’s more inspiring than THAT?”

Time after time over three days of commencement, Grand Canyon University volunteers sought to make the experience special for the graduates. One of the ways they do it is the “tunnel walk” after each ceremony — applauding the grads as they walk out of the Arena after the ceremony. It was just one of many memorable moments.

The first major graduating class from the Center for Worship Arts was celebrated in the afternoon commencement session Thursday, and leading the way — as she has done so often — was Desiree Aguilar, who was the student speaker for a ceremony that included the College of Nursing and Health Care Professions and the College of Science, Engineering and Technology. She told of how she came to GCU after a serious illness and then was able to produce a song that reached No. 1 in the indie charts — all because she said yes to God.

The first of eight spring commencement ceremonies at Grand Canyon University featured the Colangelo College of Business and the College of Fine Arts and Production. The student speaker, Josh McGuire, has been a thriving entrepreneur on campus, but he’s not the only CCOB grad who has worked hard. For them, it’s not business as usual.

They did it again — the women’s team from Grand Canyon University won the National Intramural Recreational Sports Association championship over the weekend in Columbus, Ohio.