ROTC

“It just broke my heart,” Military/Business Operations team member Vanessa Garcia said of not being able to visit with residents of the Arizona State Veteran Home this year for Salute Our Troops. The residents there haven’t seen their families in person for 11 weeks, ever since access to the facility has been limited because of COVID-19 precautions. But employees found a way to celebrate veterans Thursday with a parade of family and friends that was socially distant, followed by a lunch that thanked the veterans’ home employees.

To say that Bethlehem Schwab already has lived an amazing life is an understatement. She was born in Ethiopia and orphaned at a young age, then adopted by a Colorado couple who wanted to double the size of their family. Now she’s in the hospitality program at GCU, and her Canyon 49 Grill manager, Brett Cortright, calls her a “rock star.”

For Master Sgt. Avery Cunningham, Sept. 11, 2001, was a pivotal day in his life. He remembers being in statistics class when a plane hit the second tower of the World Trade Center. “I’m from St. Louis (Mo.), so it didn’t directly hit home but seeing the aftermath — our country as we know it changed. That’s why I decided to join and have been doing this for 16 years,” said Cunningham, who is a senior instructor for GCU’s Army ROTC. He was one of about 90 in the ROTC program who planted thousands of hand-held flags on the Quad this morning that spell out “Never Forget” to remember those lost on Sept. 11, 2001.

Photos by Elizabeth Tinajero and Enrique Lucha GCU News Bureau Thursday’s Welcome Week activities included socials for the Academic and Career Excellence (ACE) centers and transfer students, ROTC orientation and a welcome-back party for Worship Arts students.  

Dylan Nigh reads everywhere on the GCU campus. He reads while walking to class. He reads while eating Chick-fil-A. He reads while cooking Mexican food in his residence hall kitchen. After all that reading, classmates, friends and professors find that Dylan can talk about anything.