EDITOR'S NOTE: This story was originally published as the "5-on-5" feature in the November 2024 issue of GCU Magazine, available in the purple bins on campus or digitally.
Sterling, Colorado, native Andrea Northup has been connected to Grand Canyon University for the last nine years.
She completed her bachelor’s degree at GCU before joining Habitat for Humanity as its sponsor relations coordinator, continuing to work alongside the university as one of Habitat’s community partners. Now she’s back at GCU in a new role with the Government Relations and External Affairs team. She focuses on improving safety in the community by working with nonprofits, churches, businesses and other local groups alongside the city of Phoenix. She made an impact at the university after transferring from Northeastern Junior College in Colorado by organizing Lopes Outdoors club trips, helping develop the first TEDxGCU event and winning the Canyon Challenge.
role at GCU, where she works
with nonprofits, churches, businesses and the city
on neighborhood safety. (Photo by Ralph Freso)
1. How does someone from a town of 13,000 acclimate so well to a large university?
I remember thinking, “Two years is not a long time. I have to make the most of this.” I think it’s going back to basic principles of getting involved and taking advantage of the opportunities that are in front of you. Because I had always been involved in clubs or sports at my own high school, that’s where it’s like, “OK, I’m familiar with a club setting or a group setting,” so I’m going to get familiar with opportunities at the CCOB (Colangelo College of Business) and with the university at large, start there and then just continue to build upon what I can.
2. You won the Canyon Challenge with your bowties, created to benefit Lakota American Indians living in poverty. How meaningful was it to win that entrepreneurial competition?
I wouldn’t say flabbergasted – that’s such a silly term to use. But it’s so true. I just felt so honored, because at the CCOB, one of the founding pillars is giving business a higher purpose. And so that was my whole goal with the bowties – how can you give sewing and fashion a higher purpose but still be a for-profit company? Winning was really something I didn’t foresee coming but was just continued validation to taking risks and being willing to step into a space and take what I learned in those clubs, in the entrepreneurship classes, in the business classes. Just to walk by the wall (of winners), I’m amazed and very humbled to have had that opportunity.
3. Habitat for Humanity is close to your heart. How does it feel to have been a part of that, especially when it’s such an important partner in the university’s vision of transforming the community?
The more I got involved with the GCU-Habitat partnership, it continued to open my eyes to how committed the university is to the principles we had learned about in the classroom. It also was something that opened my eyes to living life on mission, because I’d always thought that you had to go overseas to love your neighbor. I’m like, “Is there anybody in Phoenix who really needs help?” And so being able to see the Habitat projects and meeting the families, I don’t need to go across a border. I just need to take a drive. And if I am so willing to hop on a 36-hour plane flight to Kenya, but I’m not willing to drive 20 or 30 minutes in my own city, that’s a heart issue.
4. The university strives to be a good neighbor. How diligent are you in making sure that’s carried out?
I may or may not be working with the government on a regular basis, but I’m working with entities who work with them, so we’ll be in multiple meetings where everybody is at the table. A lot of my role is primarily government, but then a lot of it is the other outside organizations that are just as involved in working with this, whether it’s the state or the city council office, almost just as much as we are. By building on those relationships, you’re continuing to build GCU testimony on multiple levels, and the people involved in those relationships with you can advocate for you, even when you don’t expect it.
5. What keeps you here?
The university has already been hard at work at it (increasing safety in the community) for 20 years, and there’s been other organizations who have been doing the same. But now I think we’re finally starting to see the tide turn. There’s still a lot of work ahead of us. But I want to be here until the day when we can walk down 27th Avenue and we can say, “Oh, remember when?” And then we can celebrate together.
