Outreach

Solving a crime doesn’t happen in the span of a one-hour “Bones” TV show. Nor do one or two investigators break a case wide open. Usually, it takes a whole team of investigators, from police crime scene investigators to forensic technicians, as the 1,500 high school students who attended the College of Science, Engineering and Technology’s Forensic Science Day found out on Tuesday. They heard speakers talk about forensic dentistry, got to create some blood spatter and watched the Phoenix Police Department’s K-9 Unit in action.

It was an unusually chilly morning in Chandler when students in GCU’s dance department stopped by Kyrene de la Paloma Elementary School to warm the amphitheater stage with a 20-minute, modern, kid-friendly dance. The stop was part of the department’s annual elementary school dance tour, which continues through March. The goal is to give students the opportunity to see dance and maybe be inspired to become dancers themselves.

About 300 GCU students and 50 volunteers from Habitat for Humanity converged on Garcia Elementary School for the semiannual Serve the City. Volunteers woke up early Saturday to paint exterior walls, shovel sand into playground areas and turn other areas into splashes of color.

From liquid nitrogen-made ice cream to 3D printing and a souped-up go-kart, Strategic Educational Alliance’s recent STEM Innovation Spotlight seemed to have the secret formula for fun — and for helping educators connect with each other and with STEM-friendly organizations.

Students from Crane Elementary School District don’t have a lot to give. Many struggle with poverty. Yet they have the biggest hearts, helping make shoes for children in Africa and spreading kindness through Ben’s Bells. They recently won the “Be the Change” video contest organized by the Arizona School Board Association. The prize? A trip to GCU.

Teens with ideas for bullwhip, custom shoes and comic book businesses wrapped up their seven-week training with GCU’s New Business Development Center.

Sarah Shea joined more than 200 fellow supporters of Special Olympics when she rappelled down Phoenix’s CityScape building recently. The GCU student made the descent in honor of her friends, Hannah Hall, who has Down Syndrome, and Meghan Bailey, who has cerebral palsy.

GCU freshman Sarah Shea on Saturday will be stepping off the edge of CityScape, one of the tallest buildings in Phoenix, and will be dressed in a Spider-Man suit, no less. The special education major is afraid of heights, but she is making like a superhero by participating in Over the Edge, which benefits Special Olympics Arizona. She’s doing it in honor of two friends she met in third grade — one has Down Syndrome, the other has cerebral palsy.

Santa found some unlikely elves in GCU mechanical engineering students, who spent more than 12 hours in the days before Thanksgiving helping a nonprofit group, We Are Their Future, build a fantastical Whoville-themed holiday display.

GCU employees looking for ways to volunteer this holiday season will find plenty of organizations to help on this Serve the Season list.