Photos by Ralph Freso / Slideshow
Ray Gilmore didn’t have it easy growing up in Tucson. He said his parents weren’t interested, and his grandmother, who he lived with, was aging and died before he was placed in the foster care system.
But on Friday, he experienced a showering of love, not the least of it coming from a mentor.
“I don’t remember all what we talked about,” Jeff Treat said of the first time he met Gilmore, “but I remember how you made me feel.”
Treat was telling the gathering at the Fostering Futures Scholarship Reception at Grand Canyon University how he has bonded with the GCU junior since signing up to be his mentor in the program, recalling how Jesus’ “heart is always directed at those who are crying out.”
“There was a light in him that was so impressive to me,” he said of Gilmore. “Just to watch you continue to show up and pour into others is such a blessing. We shared a lot of meals over the years, and there was not a single time that at least one or two people were not calling your name across the Promenade. That glow in you is coming out of them. It’s not for no reason. It’s always the case with you. You’re always generous with others despite the hard circumstances you inherited.
“I’m so grateful to share this road with you.”
They first bonded over guitars. They both play. But in their bimonthly meetings, they went deeper, Gilmore said after he and 19 others were awarded the Fostering Futures Scholarship, granted to area youth aging out of the foster care system.
“It’s a sense of security that I can talk to someone about what is going on in my life and just have that connection on a deeper level,” Gilmore said. “He’s been a good adult figure in my life. … He’s struggled with things I have struggled with and can give me good advice.”
Gilmore was called to the podium at the Jerry Colangelo Museum four times, also to collect one of the 28 Lectric Scholars Scholarships, one of the two Fostering Futures Day of Giving Scholarships and the Staffing First Scholarship.
Fostering Futures Student Coordinator Brandi Turner broke down when addressing the crowd about Gilmore.
“He’s been amazing to know, just hearing his story and knowing his heart,” she said.
Gilmore, a junior studying sports and entertainment management, has grown deeper in his faith and sense of community during his time at GCU, he said.
“This scholarship is one of the best opportunities I’ve had in my life,” he told his fellow students in the crowd, urging them to get connected on campus. “Take the opportunity to fly with it.”
GCU Executive Vice President Sarah Boeder also encouraged students to engage.
“To be at Grand Canyon isn’t just about showing up and going to class. Hopefully you will have experiences to get to know GCU better and you realize this is a community,” she said. “You will have people that you meet along the way you will remember for the rest of your life.”
That includes mentors such as Treat, who said working with Gilmore had reminded him of the “spirit of generosity.”
Mentors become big supporters, and keynote speaker Demetrius Colbert, a Valley life coach and pastor, said students should lean on them. Sometimes they just offer assurance that "everything is going to be OK."
He urged students to find their meaning, their “why,” which is more important than comfort.
“If you can understand why, it will be your fuel for life,” he said.
“Nothing just happens; you have to be intentional. The future is going to happen anyway, you might as well fuel your future with intention. Don’t just think it's random. Don’t do just enough. Go above and beyond. Do the extra, do the things other people won’t. … I believe you guys can do it.”
Students also heard inspiration from community nonprofit organizations helping foster youth, Fostering Hearts in our Community and Field and Faith, urging students to “choose their perspective” and serve others.
GCU alumni were involved, too. Michael Shapiro, founder of Swappow Plus Foundation, shared his apt life metaphor on skateboarding, learning how to fall and get back up, along with his donation of a skateboard to each scholar. And alumnus Levi Conlow, co-founder and CEO of Lectric eBikes, tripled the number of scholarships to students this year.
Grand Canyon University senior writer Mike Kilen can be reached at [email protected]
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