phoenix

When Bianca Peña started a job at a nonprofit, she knew to move forward in her career she needed an advanced degree. So she started on her journey to earn her bachelor’s in behavioral health science. But it would be a hard road for Peña, who paused her studies when her 14-year-old sister, Nancy, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and later when she became the caretaker for her mother. Peña also was recently diagnosed with autism. Many times, she wanted to give up, she said. “I would try to convince myself I don’t need this degree.” But on Monday, she walked across the GCU Arena stage and accepted her diploma, fulfilling her promise to her sister.

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.

Sun, sand and surf are all good, but Paige Petrine is challenging herself this summer in a different way. The Paradise Valley High School senior was furiously jotting down observations from her busy morning in the Biomedical Device Design and Protyping Lab, where GCU Biomedical Professor Dr. Jeff La Belle innovates, designs and protypes medical technologies. She is one of more than a dozen high school students who are part of the inaugural High School STEM Internship Program, developed by K12 Educational Development. They spend eight hours most days researching in various fields, from anatomy to biomedical engineering, software development and health and nutrition. They also sit in on professional development sessions organized by the Honors College. Said Petrine, “The lab is my happy place.”

When COVID-19 struck Arizona last spring, the University paused many of its community initiatives, including its most visible one — its partnership with Habitat for Humanity to renovate homes in the Canyon Corridor. But after a 12-month hiatus, about 50 GCU students and staff on Saturday fanned out into the neighborhood to work on renovation projects at five homes as part of Serve the City. It was a pared down version of the semiannual event to keep in line with COVID-19 protocols. It also was a triumphant return to doing what GCU does best: help its neighbors. “It’s just really cool to be able to slowly bring back things that we really look forward to doing under normal circumstances,” said senior finance major Jacob Norgord while painting one of the homes. “It just helps us feel like we’re one step closer to hopefully being back to normal, even if that is with masks or whatever it might be.”

Students volunteers had the chance to roll up their sleeves Wednesday for the USDA Farmers to Families Food Box Program distribution event at the 27th Avenue complex, an event hosted by GCU in partnership with CityServe International. About 165 students loaded and delivered more than 1,050 boxes of food prepared by Shamrock Farms, each weighing about 30 pounds and filled with everything from meat to bags of apples and carrots, cheese, milk and more. The boxes went to more than 20 community service organizations and churches, which then distributed those boxes to families in need. It was just the first event in an even bigger project with CityServe in which the University would be the Arizona distribution hub for products that will go to needy families.

Photos by Travis Neely GCU News Bureau A herd of purple-clad GCU staff, professors and students were among the many volunteers who participated on the second day of the annual Back to School Clothing Drive. Some volunteers at GCU Arena helped children fill enormous bags with clothing and other goodies while Thunder, Dance and Cheer team members and GCU soccer and volleyball players revved up the crowd. Upstairs, GCU College of Education Dean Kim LaPrade signed copies of her book, “Thunder’s Vision,” and everywhere, people smiled warmly at shy children and grinned with every glimmer of joy.