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By Janie Magruder Photos by Darryl Webb GCU News Bureau No matter how you slice it, the most talked-about stories at Grand Canyon University in 2015 had something to do with students and creating for them the best possible academic, spiritual and social experiences. With a record number of students matriculating on campus this year, new programs, new faculty and staff and — especially — new buildings were needed to help facilitate their learning. Additional residence halls and eateries were required for the students’ care and feeding, as were fields for their recreation and structures for their vehicles. The University did not disappoint. In what has become a year-end tradition at GCU Today, here are our top 10 stories of 2015, in no particular order of importance. (We do think you’d be hard-pressed to argue against the first entry, however.) Our list is by no means etched in stone, nor all-inclusive, but is merely meant to prompt water-cooler debates or a bit of reflection. Thanks for the memories, GCU. Up, up, up: student enrollment. If not for the 15,500 traditional students (a 21.6 percent jump over 2014’s ground enrollment) and the 59,200 online students (up 7.5 percent from last year) […]

The list of Chapel speakers from outside GCU for the spring semester includes five newcomers. It’s always great to hear from a fresh face, but Dean of Students Pastor Tim Griffin emphasized that the format and feel of Chapel won’t change.

Stanley Fred Hawkins, a GCU alumnus and retired educator who is a leather crafter in St. Louis, Mo., has a positive story about how life can be full of surprises, especially as he recently celebrated a big moment in his career. The 81-year-old owns an international leather business and was asked by the NFL to create a leather cover for a book of records honoring Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning.

In the season to be jolly, Sean Coffey of GCU’s 27th Avenue office may be the jolliest of all, sporting a glittering, bauble-enshrined, merry green beard one day in the week before Christmas. He won a first prize, but not in the category you might imagine. And his twinkling chin hair was just one of many imaginative flights of Christmas fancy that teams created at 27th Avenue.

GCU’s Peoria office employees, who recently toppled the GCU’s main campus in the Thanksgiving turkey-donation contest, seem to have no shortage of seasonal spirit. They merrily switched gears for Christmastime and decked their cubicles, hallways and lobby with red, green, white — and purple — holiday cheer. Ho, ho ho!

It’s that most wonderful time of year, when Christians celebrate the birth of their Savior, cookies and hot cocoa are consumed ’round the cracklin’ fireplace, and sparkly decorations and lights of all shapes and sizes are displayed. Cypress Hall, on GCU’s main campus, was dressed to the hilt by staff members who are temporarily housed there, and a door decorating contest was embraced by many.

GCU’s Honors College asks a lot of its gifted students, but it asked a little more recently when it put 22 of them through the Personal Academic Career Boot Camp. Three emerged as the finalists for the $3,000 scholarship by best handling the mock interviewing, networking and professional training.

Colangelo College of Business students got to hear from another outstanding speaker Thursday, and this one truly has a global reach. Amadou Gallo Fall is the National Basketball Association’s vice president and managing director for Africa, and his story is a classic example of making the most of opportunities.

Anyone who ever has been to Chapel at GCU no doubt appreciates the quality and spirit of the music. But how did it get so good? The student leaders who feel privileged to have the opportunity and the people who oversee the process share how the process works and what makes it special.

Dramatic, one-person performances mesmerized a coffee-sipping crowd at Peet’s Coffee Wednesday as speech and debate team members portrayed characters with startling emotional detail. The performers who took the stage were freshmen Thomas Gleason, Chrycia LeGendre and TaylorRae Humbert, and sophomore Chloe Saunders. Topics ranged from a pro-life story about a woman who was raped and decided to keep her baby to prose about how UFC fighter Ronda Rousey is a significant figure for female empowerment. GCU’s team is ranked in the top 20 of the nation, out of 138 schools, said team director Barry Regan, communication instructor with the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. GCU has the story.