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  By Theresa Smith GCU News Bureau Just for a moment, forget about winning the top award in every category and focus on the outcome that does not appear in the official results. After days of driving the Grand Canyon University Cheer team, consecutive mornings of listening to their daily devotionals, witnessing their approach to each other, and their evident love amid catching each other with sure hands and an authentic smile, the bus driver was profoundly affected. GCU Cheer coach Emily Stephens, who began the program 11 years ago, was brought to tears when Dean, the bus driver, took her aside and told her that he was thinking about returning to church, and the deciding factor was his observations of her 49-member cheer team, plus Thunder and Thunder’s friends. “It was the most exciting thing for us,’’ she said upon returning from the Universal Cheerleading Association (UCA) camp at the University of California-Santa Barbara. “He said he felt a spirit coming up from the front of the bus. The fact that the group could show him that love and that spirit and represent Christ is remarkable. For him to feel that and make that decision after being with our […]

Not every theatre kid sees the stage as something that could be more than a hobby. A new College of Fine Arts and Production theatre group called Parables wants to change that. “It’s actually showing a kid in a Christian high school that, ‘Oh, this theatre thing that I love to do is something viable to actually study and make a part of my life,'” said COFAP instructor and director Michael Kary, who is writing the material for the new troupe’s first production.

For the second consecutive year, GCU made the top 10 of Niche’s Best College Campuses list, scoring a No. 7 ranking (up from No. 8 last year) for its college life — and the accolades don’t end there. The University also is No. 6 on the Best Dorms in America list and No. 7 in Best Online Colleges.

GCU’s Move-In tradition continues with the ultimate warm welcome, beginning Friday when Welcome Crew members arrive on campus. As students, faculty and staff once again personally move students into their rooms, it sets the tone for a pay-it-forward campus culture. Move-In kicks into high gear on Monday, Aug. 20, and the entire week is filled with activities designed to help freshmen and transfer students make friends and settle in while returning students catch up with friendships and dive into leadership roles.

For at least two alumni, GCU was more than a place to learn. It was a place to fall in love. Faith and Thomas Beatty took different paths to campus, but they landed next to each other in a freshman orientation line — and the rest is white doves. “I knew very, very quickly that she was the right one,” Thomas Beatty said. They were married in June.

Tim Kelley of the Colangelo College of Business lends his entrepreneurial and business expertise in a lot of areas, and now he has found a new one. He has been selected by the Valley Leadership Institute to serve in its 40th class of leaders who will look for solutions to Arizona’s challenges.

There’s a student at GCU whose life has not quite gone as planned — yet he’s flourishing. In 2003, the Marine was ambushed in Iraq, resulting in the loss of an eye, a traumatic brain injury and a bullet wound to the arm. His mother says he shouldn’t have survived, “but by the grace of God he did.” The injuries cost him a career in law enforcement and a job with the Kepler Space Telescope Program. But from the ashes, Brent Phillips has created something special with the help of the University.

The story of Grand Canyon University’s growth and accomplishments added a new chapter this week when its chapter in the National Society of Collegiate Scholars earned Platinum Star Status and was deemed the largest in the country. Here’s the catch: The chapter was formed only four years ago.

Professors Crystal McCabe and Lynn Basko are accustomed to teaching future teachers in GCU’s College of Education, but teaching high school students who aspire to be teachers is a fairly infrequent experience, yet one they passionately embrace. Including McCabe and Basko, six GCU professors travel to Orlando this week for the 2018 Educators Rising National Conference, a gathering of over 1,000 high school students who are interested in teaching careers.

Story by Theresa Smith Photos by David Kadlubowski   GCU News Bureau With teacher shortages in several parts of the country and the spotlight on low teacher pay, including the #RedforEd movement in Arizona, it is heartwarming for Grand Canyon University College of Education leaders to make an impact on the newest generation of potential teachers. COE Dean Dr. Kimberly LaPrade and Dr. Marjaneh Gilpatrick, COE’s Executive Director of Educational Outreach, will be working with teenaged prospective educators at the 2018 Educators Rising National Conference on Thursday-Sunday in Orlando, Fla. Both GCU stalwarts were selected as judges of the national competition that will take place at the conference. High school students from all across the country won state competitions in order to qualify for nationals. “It is uplifting for educator leaders to see young people who know they want to be teachers,’’ Gilpatrick said. “They have already demonstrated excellence at the state level, so the entries at the national level are usually quite impressive.’’ There are 19 high school competition categories, including children’s literature, creative lecture TED Talk, ethical dilemma, impromptu lesson, lesson planning and leadership in action. Dr. LaPrade is judging the ethical dilemma category in which students log numerous preparation hours […]