Grand Canyon University

Miguel Perez has worked as a dancer for Celine Dion, Donnie and Marie Osmond, and Cirque de Soleil. But he recently turned his attention to working with GCU’s dance students during a guest artist residency. Dance students arrived on campus two weeks early for the first time and got in some important work with Perez and their GCU instructors.

GCU’s Theatre Department is in rehearsals for its first play of the season, the dreamy, fairy tale-like comedy “Ring Round the Moon.” The department will change pace for its other submissions for the 2018-19 season: the Shakespeare tragedy “Macbeth,” Peter Pan origin story “Peter and the Starcatcher,” Holocaust drama “Who Will Carry the Word” and bright, shiny musical “Godspell.”

A GCU online learner has been nominated for an excellence in clinical research award by the hospital at which she works. Jean Cheek, forensic nurse examiner coordinator at Virginia Commonwealth University Health System, said the health system has implemented changes based on her research at GCU.

DNA necklaces and DNA code bead bracelets just might be the unlikeliest type of jewelry. But they were a couple of the academic jewels made by seventh- and eighth- graders Monday at the Thunder Vision Biovision STEM Day Camp. It’s just one of four such camps — the others are Cybervision, Robovision and Technovision — unfurling this week on the GCU campus, courtesy of Strategic Educational Alliances. The camps serve SEA’s mission to support kindergarten- through 12th-grade students and educators while fostering a college culture.

You’ll often find Grand Canyon University Costume Designer Nola Yergen and Assistant Costume Designer Sarah Levinson in their rabbit hole — GCU’s Costume Shop on the second floor of the Media Arts Complex. They’re gearing up to start work on “Ring Round the Moon,” the theater department’s first play for the 2018-19 academic year. But they also ventured to Costume-Con this summer, winning two Best in Show awards for their “Alice in Wonderland”-themed costumes and their catacomb saints entry.

There’s a student at GCU whose life has not quite gone as planned — yet he’s flourishing. In 2003, the Marine was ambushed in Iraq, resulting in the loss of an eye, a traumatic brain injury and a bullet wound to the arm. His mother says he shouldn’t have survived, “but by the grace of God he did.” The injuries cost him a career in law enforcement and a job with the Kepler Space Telescope Program. But from the ashes, Brent Phillips has created something special with the help of the University.

The new chefs at Canyon 49 Grill know a thing or two about working with each other. They met more than a decade ago at a resort, where they cooked together for six years in multiple restaurants. They say their past experience has made the transition to GCU a fun one, and they agree with the herd: There’s something different about this place. “Here, it’s like a family,” Sous Chef Mike Willison said.

Members of the GCU community — a student, a faculty member, an online staff member, a campus staff member and an academic leader — reflect on the meaning of Independence Day and describe how they will celebrate with family and friends.

Campus construction projects are barreling forward this summer, from the addition of 1,000 field-level seats at GCU Ballpark that will put spectators right in the action, to a new Lope Shop, two new residence halls, a soon-to-be-completed parking garage, a new Colangelo College of Business building, a new Canyon Activities Center, and perhaps the most exciting addition for students — a long-anticipated Taco Bell. The projects are on track, many of them expected to be completed by the time students arrive for the fall semester.

Senior Bre L’Estrange will compete in July in the Miss Earth United States contest after being selected as Colorado’s delegate for the pageant. But in her down time, she volunteered at St. Vincent de Paul’s Dream Center to teach children about recycling. The center plays many roles for Phoenix families, especially their children, who are in need of a helping hand.