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Let’s be done with 2021 and look ahead to 2022. The calendar is brimming with events, from the return of Forensic Science Day on Feb. 15 to men’s basketball going up against rival New Mexico State on Feb. 19, to the big Mr. GCU competition on March 1 and TEDxGCU on April 8. GCU Today picked a dozen highlights from the spring 2022 calendar for your consideration.

Aliyah Stanford always knew a college education was a ticket out of her circumstances. But she had to quit. Her younger sister was struggling and needed help. Stanford told her sister to come to Phoenix, where she would get her enrolled in high school and even drive her to basketball games. But it gnawed on Aliyah to return to her studies, and last Friday with her sister cheering her on, she graduated from GCU. “I just wanted to make a difference and be there for her,” Aliyah said. “I didn’t know if I’d ever go back to school. But I didn’t give up.”

They earned their GCU degrees together, including their doctorates, and now Drs. Mike and Crystal McCabe are colleagues on the Online Full-Time Faculty. Their expertise in online education is rivaled by their family’s dedication in attending basketball games. “We all say at GCU that we bleed purple. They really bleed purple,” said Dr. Sheila Damiani, Faculty Chair for Online Full-time Faculty.

When Loudjine Pierre-Louis took the stage, she was extremely nervous. The GCU student’s job was to host karaoke at Thunderground. But the tips she got at the new Public Speaking Lab on campus helped her master the moment. She went from nervous to excited. It is one of several Lopes Lives Labs that help students in academics and development. “If it wasn’t for the lab, I wouldn’t have performed that well. It was amazing,” she said.

A conference on character education Monday at GCU Arena started with a story of how College of Education Dean Dr. Meredith Critchfield’s half-hour classroom activity inspired students for years afterward. It was all about love. A pair of international speakers added their own inspirations, including how Clifton Taulbert has led an astounding life on the legs of the ordinary people in his Mississippi sharecropper family. He told more than 2,000 attendees, both at GCU Arena and virtually, that the virtues they gifted to him changed his life.

GCU is known for building community with character. The Building Virtues Conference: Character Education in a Changing World, scheduled for Monday, Dec. 13, is another example of its efforts. The College of Education’s free all-day event in GCU Arena is for students, faculty and University partners. Experts and peers will share experiences and strategies to infuse virtues into everyday professional practice. ““Character education is the idea that we can support individuals and communities by teaching character traits, the idea that if we can teach character traits we can help society flourish,” said COE Dean Dr. Meredith Critchfield of the conference, funded by Kern Family Foundation and available via livestream or in person by registering by midnight Dec. 6.

Ruben Hernandez once ran the streets near GCU, getting into trouble and painting graffiti late into the night. But then he was sentenced to serve community service. His assignment was at a church, and his redemption began. He went from high school dropout, to art school graduate before arriving at GCU. Here, he practiced his art in Thunderground and learned business acumen as an entrepreneurial studies major. He was hired to paint a large mural in the lobby of the Antelope Reception Center, and his creation is fitting: the Grand Canyon.

Shay Quitno was terrified. She couldn’t sleep. It was her first day ever of teaching a class after graduating from GCU last spring. Quitno shared those feelings on Instagram, a project by the College of Education to chronicle the first year of a COE graduate in hopes that aspiring teachers and others can see what it’s like and learn from it. “Life with Shay” has been a social media hit. Quitno had more to say (and film) on a recent day in her classroom at Hermosa Vista Elementary School in Mesa, where it was evident her training overcame rookie teacher anxiety.

Jason Cantanese, a math teacher at Pueblo Del Sol Elementary School in Phoenix, learned early in his career that the school didn’t offer algebra. He knew his students needed it to succeed, and he came up with a creative way to make it happen. Cantanese was one of four panelists at the College of Education’s Virtual Dean Speakers Series Wednesday, and his story revealed why he wanted to teach, a theme of the event. “If you are in a classroom and see a problem, don’t wait. You can be part of that change,” he said.

Most of the Promenade was lined with tables set up by school district representatives Tuesday, eager to hire GCU’s aspiring teachers. Nearly all of the recruiters were at the Lopes Leap to Teach & Lead career expo were from Arizona, but Mark Vingoe stood behind his table covered with a map of Alaska. Sure, the temperature was 4 degrees below zero there on Tuesday, an 85-degree difference from the GCU campus. But they need teachers, and he was promising adventure.