P8
September 2013
K
immy Erickson-Moen
stood at the bottom of the stairs, arms open wide, waiting for the
huge embrace that was about to come from
Ruth Ross
during commencement ceremonies
at Grand Canyon University in May.
The two never had met before that day, but
you couldn’t tell as they hugged each other,
tears of joy streaming down their faces, after
Ross received her diploma.
“You did it!” beamed Erickson-Moen, an
enrollment counselor at GCU who had
volunteered to help during graduation.
“Yes, I did!” said Ross, an online student
from Atlanta.
The two first crossed paths a couple hours
earlier when Ross entered GCU Arena,
sobbing as she looked for her seat. Ross had
spoken earlier on the phone with her sisters,
who also are GCU online students. And her
siblings also sent text messages of support
that were displayed on the Arena’s electronic
ticker. But Ross was still alone, in a different
city, on one of the biggest days of her life.
“I asked her for her graduation card so I could
learn her name and said, ‘Ruth, why are you
crying?’” said Erickson-Moen. “She said, ‘I
can’t believe I’m here. But my family couldn’t
come. They saved up every penny that they
could just to fly me here.’”
Erickson-Moen told her everything was going
to be OK. “You know why? Because you did
it!” she said.
MASTERS of the
Personal Touch
Enrollment counselors who go above
and beyond for their students
– by Bob Romantic
Enrollment counselors extraordinaire (from left) Claudia Ward, Kimmy Erickson-Moen and Angella Mejia know what it takes to make GCU a
special place for students. Photos by Darryl Webb
