Photos by Ralph Freso
As an ambitious but relatively unknown student entrepreneur, Cody Bagwell leaned heavily on his middle name, Cash, to help promote his fob holder business.
But since winning the spring 2025 Canyon Challenge, Grand Canyon University's entrepreneurial competition, and the People’s Choice Award, life has changed handsomely for the GCU senior entrepreneur major from Leander, Texas.
Fob Mate, a device that allows fobs to be placed on cellphones, was featured at one of more than 40 tents set up during Welcome Week's Pop-Ups on the Promenade.
The popularity of Bagwell’s product reached a zenith when campus retailer the Lope Shop agreed to sell his product during Welcome Week, marking the first time a student-produced product has been offered there.
“The Colangelo College of Business reached out to me directly,” Lope Shop Operations Manager Garrett Miller said. “(Assistant Director of Campus Retail and Licensing) Shelly Schrimpf and I did research and found there was a need for that on campus. It’s Welcome Week, and it’s already selling.”
Pop-Ups on the Promenade provides an opportunity for incoming students and their parents to explore a spectrum of services that GCU groups offer, from learning about job opportunities (Human Resources), to volunteer services (Local Outreach), to playing sports (Intramurals), to the university’s colleges.
Pop-Ups provided Kraig Barthlama, his wife, and daughter Kelsey, a first-year nursing student, an extended look at the variety of programs offered at GCU.
“I think it’s great to see all the programs and start getting involved as soon as they get on campus,” said Barthlama, whose wife accompanied Kelsey when she took her Discover GCU trip. “It’s very nice.
“We’re from Wyoming. This is our first time on a big campus. This is impressive.”
Earning $3,500 in prize money from the Canyon Challenge enabled Bagwell to invest in the production and marketing of his product. Fob Mate targets businesses, apartment complexes and college campuses – specifically underclassmen, who might have a tendency to lose their fobs and attached ID cards or key cards, like Bagwell did.
After a nonbusiness-related trip to Korea, Bagwell returned to the States to talk to manufacturers, design the package and refine Fob Mate’s design to prepare it for the Lope Shop.
“I think it was God's blessing,” said Bagwell, who minors in theology, serves as a head life leader at Papago Apartments and runs a Bible study. “(The Lope Shop) realized the need in the market, the problems that students had, and it really was very smooth. I thought it was going be a lot harder.”
Bagwell’s mission is to see whether Fob Mate can sell enough to attract other schools and enable him to work full time.
But he already can be considered a success at GCU, considering he started his first two years at Schreiner University in Texas, took two years off before embarking on a Christian Bible scholarship program, and traveled around Europe before learning about GCU’s ministry and entrepreneurship opportunities and enrolling last fall.
Bagwell also set the record straight on his name after going by Cody Cash during his Canyon Challenge pitch.
“My middle name is Cash, and so I decided to go by that (for the Canyon Challenge),” Bagwell said.
While Bagwell has a head start on his career, Katie Nelson at Pop Ups on the Promenade was eager to provide information on the requirements for student worker jobs, complete with flyers and a QR code.
The jobs are offered on campus and at Building 71, with local residency and GPA minimums with flexibility around the student’s academic schedule.
“We also do tabling after the first few (Monday) Chapels,” said Nelson, a talent acquisition supervisor for Human Resources, while standing in front of the Human Resources tent. “We let everyone get activated into their schedule, put announcements out there and answer questions about jobs.”
Noah Dunnigan, a senior cybersecurity major, knows the importance of providing as much information as possible to first-year students so they can make a well-educated choice on participation.
“Especially because every ministry or student leadership is faith-based,” said Dunnigan, a Rebohoth ministry team leader, at the Local Outreach tent. “… At GCU, everything here is prayer-based. So if you're supposed to be somewhere, God wants you somewhere, you’ll end up there. It's very nice.”
For the incoming student who is no longer pursuing an athletic career, GCU offers at least 18 intramural sports so they can stay active and join part of a community.
“I think the goal for us is to get as many kids involved as possible, so getting our name out there to anybody – freshmen, transfer students, anybody that's new to GCU – it's always good for us,” GCU intramural sports manager Mike Fox said. “That's the main goal here, just to be out and about and show our presence.”
Even the Colangelo College of Business was part of the tabling, complete with graduates and an array of literature informing first-year students and their parents about what it has to offer – most recently its T.W. Lewis Center for Student Success, projected to be completed this fall.
“You can come here and learn from these amazing donors, John Kaites, our dean, and other students, on how to create companies,” said CCOB graduate assistant Connor Vicary, Turnkey Industries CEO, youth pastor at Horizon Church and former IDEA Club president.
“And it can happen. We’re telling them, ‘We did it. You can, too.’”
GCU News senior writer Mark Gonzales can be reached at [email protected]
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