Photos by Ralph Freso/GCU News
It’s one of the emotional parts of Grand Canyon University Welcome Week, when students are asked to answer questions displayed on the Global Credit Union Arena big screen by lighting up their cellphones.
Questions included:
“Who has an iPhone?” Lights beam in response.
“Who has an Android?” More lights appeared.
“Who has finished setting up their room?” A few lights illuminate the arena in response, with a comment on the screen, “Wow! That’s impressive!”
And then the big question: “Is anyone kind of nervous?”
The whole arena glowed.
“Did you see all the lights reassuring you? You are NOT alone.”
“The pinning and the lights, I got emotional at that,” said Alayna Quiocho after the Welcome Week New Student Commissioning ceremony Monday afternoon at the arena. Her family drove for 17 hours over two days from Seattle to reach Phoenix, where her brother, Amari Quiocho, was starting his college journey at GCU.
The pinning ceremony is when a family member places a pin on an incoming student that symbolizes that they’ve stepped over that threshold and are moving away from their families and into adulthood. “I cried a couple of times,” said Quiocho, who was with her grandmother, Myong Kimura.
Jim Brown also spent hours in the car – 25 hours – traveling from Georgia to drop off son Brooks at college.
When it was time for Brooks to leave the arena for his student orientation group, or “o-group,” as they’re dubbed at GCU, students did so by residence halls. That’s when he got a bear hug from his dad, mom Christy and older brother Keylan, who stayed behind in the arena for parent orientation.
It was a symbolic separation, and one that wasn’t lost on the bear-hugging Browns.
For Jim, the lighting of the arena helped assure his family that “No one is alone,” including at college.
And the pinning ceremony, led by Dean of Students and University Pastor Dr. Tim Griffin?
“As much joy as it was, it was emotional,” Jim said of launching a child off into the big wide world.
The New Student Commissioning and Parent and Family Orientation is just one of the signature traditions at Welcome Week, marking the beginning of a student’s time at GCU. It will be bookended by a newer tradition, the Lope Family Sendoff on Thursday morning, when students say goodbye to their families.
Welcome Programs Director Garrett Abeyta said he thinks the new student orientation, which has been around for about a decade, is unique to GCU.
“With such an emphasis on culture and community here, it’s exciting to show students that there are so many others like them,” Abeyta said of the cellphone Q&A activity.
“We do it to show students the community that they’re stepping into and the tremendous support that they’re going to receive here from both other students and staff. Parents and students are always grateful to begin their time at GCU with the commissioning, and we’re grateful for the chance to give them a meaningful welcome to Grand Canyon.”
Beyond the cellphone activity and pinning ceremony, students heard from Havocs leaders Kendra Slater and Brody Wolf. They spoke about the student section, renowned across the country for its synchronized cheers and electric spirit that fill arenas.
They shared information about the GCU Purchase Pro Pass and the soccer pass, which will get students into every single soccer game. There was talk about Friday’s pep rally on steroids, Lope-A-Palooza, and the first March to the Match on Thursday from the Quad lawn to GCU Stadium for the men’s soccer match against Oakland.
“This is our second year in the Mountain West (conference),” Slater said. “… It’s time to continue to make our mark.”
Students also heard from Judah Floyd and Gracie Zimbardi, the student body president and vice president, respectively.
They told the audience about the student leadership model, which is servant leadership, and invited attendees to join the Freshman Class Council or to look into other leadership opportunities, like the campus’s 1,200 student leaders have done.
Zimbardi said, “My biggest piece of advice would be to fully embrace your college experience and say yes to all of the many, many opportunities that are about to come your way. The students who thrive here are the ones who intentionally step into community early on in their college careers.”
Simply saying yes, she said, leads to the most meaningful friendships, experiences and opportunities.
Added Floyd, “We want to say yes to bring the love of Jesus into every classroom, every residence hall and every relationship, because here, we know that going to college is more than just earning your degree. We know it’s about becoming the person that God is calling you to be.”
Students also heard from Provost Dr. Randy Gibb, who spoke about how “Christian faith is rooted across the curriculum, and our faculty are empowered to authentically talk about their faith in the classroom and connect it to the specific discipline and the topic of the day.”
He told attendees about the university’s Lopes Live Labs and how we “create on purpose,” meaning GCU is intentional about helping students develop their skills in labs, internships and more.
President Brian Mueller, who thanked everyone for bringing the cooler weather with them, emphasized GCU’s foundation, which is built on Christian worldview and free-market thinking.
He advised students to get off to a strong start, avoid falling behind and to get to know their professors, who can help get them into internships.
He said Arizona’s industry growth will be tremendous in the next decade. “The computer chip industry is blowing up here, and around that are all other kinds of industries coming to Arizona,” Mueller said.
With 22 advisory boards at GCU and 800 companies represented on those boards, students have great opportunities.
“We are tying what we do to real opportunities for students before they graduate.”
His talk also included how the university is investing in its Honors College, which it wants to make “the largest and most impactful honors college in America,” with the goal to double its 3,500 students to 7,000 in the next four years.
While students headed off into their o-groups, parents remained in the arena for parent orientation.
GCU support staff answered a flurry of questions, like where is the health clinic? Can students carry Tasers or pepper spray (GCU Director of Public Safety Rob Handy said yes to Tasers and no to pepper spray). Will my son or daughter be turned away from the campus clinic if he or she doesn’t have insurance? (“We don’t turn anybody away,” answered Director of Campus Health Connie Colbert).
Jessica Jones-Moore, who drove 19 hours from Helena, Montana, with incoming freshman Shaelynn, listened eagerly to all the afternoon’s speakers.
She spoke about how Shaelynn, her fourth child to go off to college (two more are waiting in the wings), wanted to attend a Christian university, and GCU, in far away Phoenix, was it.
Not that she needed a reason to shed more tears after the cellphone activity and her daughter’s commissioning into GCU.
“I’ve been crying for a week,” she said.
Manager of Internal Communications Lana Sweeten-Shults can be reached at [email protected].
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GCU News: From North Carolina to California, 16,000 students kick off GCU journey with move-in
GCU press release: GCU plans to open College of Law, College of Construction and Industrial Technologies
Arizona’s Family: Grand Canyon University welcomes 24,000 students for move-in day
