NSCS

Integrity is a key element in every student’s academic journey and one that Honors College Associate Dean Dr. Breanna Naegeli hopes to highlight during the inaugural Integrity Week. Workshops, information sessions and guest speakers have helped bring forward the message of acting with integrity in all aspects life. “I feel like this is a major step up from anything we’ve done previously,” Naegeli said.

The Honors College has grown so much in the last eight years, one day dedicated to service events wasn’t enough. This week, it hosted its first Commitment to Service Week, providing an opportunity for multiple Honors clubs to volunteer at nonprofit organizations. “We just wanted to integrate service much more heavily and integrate this initiative into the college this semester,” Honors College Program Manager Anya Cofrancesco said. “We just decided to go big and make this a huge campaign. It’s been incredible to see their (students) compassion and just rolling up their sleeves and getting into the community.”

Callista Mendoza always had an interest in politics, even from a young age. So when she decided to come to GCU and her first choice for a degree program wasn’t available, she decided Government was the best fit. That decision would lead her to her most recent opportunity, a contracted position as a field representative for the Leadership Institute.

In an academic year faced with a multitude of obstacles, including a global pandemic, GCU’s National Society of Collegiate Scholars made a name for themselves on a national level. For the second time since 2014, the GCU honors organization was named a Platinum Star Status Chapter for the 2020-2021 academic year and also won the second-place award for Virtual Member Engagement Star Status Merit. “It’s always exciting to achieve such an accomplishment and have this national recognition, but once you set the bar, you have a new bar,” said Honors College Associate Dean and chapter co-advisor Dr. Breanna Naegeli. “It’s not only continuing to meet those standards but to find ways to surpass that each year moving forward.”

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.