Students Inspiring Students

Transcript

Next, we’re heading to meet up with Luis. He has an inspiring story that I know you’re all gonna love. Luis is a junior studying Computer Science and Business Entrepreneurship, and he’s gonna speak on Students Inspiring Students here at GCU. Luis, please take it away.

– Hey, Alex. I’m a 2018 Students Inspiring Students, scholarship recipient. I’m actually not from here. My family is from Chinaloa, Mexico. I came to Phoenix when I was only three months old, and I’ve been here ever since then. I grew up undocumented, and that came with a lot of obstacles that I had to overcome. One of the biggest challenges was attaining higher education. There are so many obstacles before me, and so many closed doors, and I didn’t think that it was for me. That was until I found out about Grand Canyon University. I chose GCU because they opened the door for me when nobody else would. What first brought me here was the amazing atmosphere. It was unlike anything else. However, what’s kept me here are the incredible opportunities that they provide to the students. Coming from an immigrant background, every considers the idea of going to college simply because they cannot afford it. Instead of school, they believe that working is the only option they have. I decided to go against that norm and be the example for my cousins, brothers and sister. Being a first generation college student is difficult, but if they see that I can do it, then they’ll believe that they can do it too. I couldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for the Students Inspiring Students scholarship. They award full tuition scholarships to high school students. One of the requirements in getting the scholarship is doing community service hours by studying at the GCU Learning Lounge. The Learning Lounge is a free on-campus, afterschool tutoring program, where K through 12 students have the opportunity to be mentored by college student who goes by the role of a learning advocate. And the lounge is just one of the many resources that GCU provides. To list a few, we have the First Year Experience program, which helps new students transition into college. We also have Academic and Career Excellence Centers that we call ACE Centers, where you can get help academically and professionally. One amazing community that I’ve been blessed to be a part of, is TEDxGrandCanyonUniversity. TEDxGCU is a fully student-led organization here on campus. We get to provide a TEDx Talk event, once a year. They range from marketing, finance and design to production operations and speaker acquisition. And not only do we get to provide professional and meaningful experiences, we also get to do it in a fun and interactive way. I believe that a college education is more than learning skills for a job, it’s learning how to understand the world around you. GCU provides that beyond comparison with their focus on, community, faith and student opportunity. Thank you all so much. It’s been a pleasure talking to you. Back to you, Alex.

– Luis, your story is exciting and encouraging. We really appreciate you taking the time to open up about your journey here at GCU. That was a lot of fun. Thanks, Luis.