Colleges

Ryan Hatmaker had good reason to want to make the Disneyland All-American College Band: His parents met there long ago while doing their own performances. But there was one problem. The Grand Canyon University snare drummer, who plays for the Thundering Heard Pep Band, was asked to play a different drum at the audition. He had never play the tenor drums — five instead of one. He didn’t panic. He called on his GCU attitude: Smile and have fun.

There will be a lot of laughs in Ethington Theatre this season, and that’s by design. The schedule, which begins Aug. 23 with “One Man, Two Guvnors,” is filled with classic comedies. “Lighthearted,” said Claude Pensis, Dean of the College of Fine Arts and Production, “but still the plays have messages. It’s always a matter of what does the director want to do, and then how does it fit into the program?”

When Brian Mucyo was 6, his parents had to send their son to a country more medically equipped to care for the deterioration of his vision. With only 10% visibility left in his left eye and a prosthetic eye for his right, Mucyo lived in Belgium for several years before moving to America to complete high school and eventually enroll at GCU. Now he’s an Honors College student and uses the skills he has developed in his travels (specifically, the four languages he now speaks fluently) to help other international students create the confidence to speak and learn English.

Tim Kelley never stops learning — that’s why he applied for a special summer program at the London School of Economics. But once program organizers saw how much the Assistant Professor for Entrepreneurship and Economics in the Colangelo College of Business knows about angel investing, he actually was asked to speak to the class about it. It’s another sign that GCU’s program is “right on target and on the cutting edge,” Kelley said.

Sgt. 1st Class Gregory Waters, now a GCU student, refused to leave the battlefield when his convoy truck was blown up in Afghanistan. Even though he initially was knocked unconscious by the blast and faced enemy fire, he still assisted the wounded when he came to, ignoring his own injuries. All survived the 2008 incident, and for his bravery Waters was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross in a ceremony in Michigan. He still remembers their screams: “Doc! Doc! Help us!”

Hospitality students at GCU are consistently placed in positions where they learn by doing, and some of them learn by leading. Now they have a new leader, Karen Madlock, who has the most important take-charge position of all — she’s the first student general manager for the GCU Hotel and Canyon 49 Grill. “We’ve put our students in key positions where they’re making key decisions, and they get to see how they play out,” General Manager Brett Cortright said.

Gina Meyer, a member of the College of Education staff and adjunct faculty since 2008, died of breast cancer on Tuesday. She will be remembered for always looking for ways to incorporate innovative technology tools to bring the course content alive for her online students, advocating for her students, serving as a resource for the online adjunct faculty … and how much she loved GCU.

Breaking into the professional world can be difficult, especially in the arts. But even with their graduation from GCU fresh on their minds, several dance alumni already are thriving in their first big jobs. “I hope that the world receives them and loves them as much as we have here,” Dance Director Susannah Keita said. “I’m a proud dance mom.”

Jacqueline Thomas competed in the Miss Arizona competition regularly during her time at GCU, finishing second in 2018, and now she has taken the next step. She won the title last weekend and will represent Arizona as she vies for the Miss America title. She credits GCU’s Honors College for helping her succeed. “Everything that I did once I joined the Honors College, from internships to jobs to other extra-curricular activities or opportunities within the Miss Arizona organization, was all because of the foundation that the Honors College laid out for me,” she said.

“We’re the better neurons!” one student declared at GCU’s Biovision Day Camp after playing a few rounds of the Neuron Game. Sixth through ninth graders not only made like neurons but were wowed by the colors of light streaming through spectroscopes, gandered at 3D printers and more at the camp. It was just one of a quartet of STEM-savvy Thunder Vision offerings, with a different science and tech focus each day (Robovision, Ecovision and Cybervision among them) offered by the University’s K12 Educational Development. More than 500 students are attending the one-day camps, which wrap up today.