Breanna Naegeli

College is all about learning experiences, and the Honors STEMists club took learning to the next level when its members built two wheelchairs and donated them to the Neighborhood Christian Clinic. Best of all, the Honors College students got to meet the family of a recipient. “It was just a very raw moment,” said one of the students, Abby Abraham. “They just kept saying, ‘You don’t understand how much this means to us.’”

The Honors College leaders showed last year that their teamwork goes beyond their work duties — five of them earned graduate degrees. Associate Dean Dr. Breanna Naegeli finished work on her doctorate, while Program Managers Dennis Williams, Cathleen Daly and Anna Cofrancesco and Program Development Specialist Faith Beatty all received their master’s degrees. “I feel as though this story illustrates the support we have for one another both personally and professionally,” Naegeli said.

The Honors College wanted to make sure students who participated in the PAC Professional Development Program this year were properly celebrated. They gathered Wednesday night on Canyon 49 Grill’s outdoor patio for a socially distanced dinner and PAC (Professional, Academic and Career) awards ceremony. The top three were Andrew Jennings, Ethan Connery and Ashley Larson.

When social distancing guidelines were set in place to combat the spread of the pandemic, students in the Honors Voices Club and the National Society of Collegiate Scholars (NSCS) came together to formulate a way to still serve their community. They created care packages for students in isolation at GCU Hotel and for health care workers on campus.

Honors College students got a Zoom visit Tuesday from Dr. Connie Mariano, a White House physician for three presidents. In a talk titled “Turning Standing Out to Outstanding,” Mariano shared her experiences and told students what aspiring medical professionals should focus on.

It’s the same scholarship that has been changing the lives of incoming Honors College students for years, but now it has a new name: the Academic Excellence & Servant Leadership Scholarship. The annual reception for scholarship winners had to be conducted online because of the pandemic. “We wanted these students to have an opportunity to engage with one another and have a moment to reflect on how special this scholarship opportunity really is,” Honors College Associate Dean Dr. Breanna Naegeli said.

Launch Week, the Honors College’s orientation, had to be online because of the pandemic, but Associate Dean Dr. Breanna Naegeli was impressed by the incoming students’ positive participation. “They’re ready to get engaged, and they genuinely don’t care if meeting people is strictly virtual,” she said. Expanding it to two weeks for the first time also proved to be a good move.

The Honors College’s Student Advisory Board, which works as a bridge between faculty and students to put together Honors activities, has even more members this year. It’s quality as well as quantity. Program Manager Dennis Williams calls it “the most phenomenal group we’ve ever had.” Eighth in a nine-part series on each college as the semester begins.

Dr. Breanna Naegeli has worked for the University for almost 11 years and has multiple siblings with GCU degrees, but she couldn’t herself be called an alumna — until now. She successfully defended her dissertation in May and completed her Ph.D. in Performance Psychology.

The abrupt transition of ground classes to the online platform could have weakened the strong bond students have with the Honors College, but its administrators wouldn’t let that happen. They have established a number of ways to keep students engaged with their peers, and one of them, Tuesday Night Trivia, has continued into the summer.