Allison Richmond is an Arizona native and a junior at Grand Canyon University. She is currently earning her Bachelor of Science in English with an Emphasis in Professional Writing with a minor in marketing. She hopes to use her degree to pursue a career in journalism or advertising in order to share her ideas and creativity with the world. Allison has a passion for writing. She has gotten the opportunity to pursue this passion through writing for Odyssey Online, working on writing research with her professor and writing for the GCU blogs. When she is not writing, Allison enjoys reading, traveling, baking and spending time with her friends.
Spotlight Questions:
I am a child of God, a straight A student, a homebody and a writer. When applying for colleges, these aspects of myself were my criteria. I wanted to go to a small Christian school with an honors program and an English major. These requirements significantly narrowed my choices of school. As I prayed about where God wanted me and began to receive acceptance letters, God was working in amazing ways. It started on my first visit to GCU, where I met the director of the Honors College. She told me I would be a perfect fit for the honors program and also told me about a new major that had just been developed: professional writing. This was perfect. I had almost ruled out GCU because they did not have my major, but here it was.
A few weeks later my advisor called me to tell me the Honors College was offering a full tuition scholarship, this year only. Once again, doors were opening. I interviewed for the scholarship and got it, making GCU the cheapest option. All of the sudden, GCU was the perfect fit for me. I had overlooked the university before, but little by little, God gave me opportunities I had never thought possible and made GCU the perfect small Christian school close to home with an honors program and an English major. I thank God for revealing His will to me and bringing me to Grand Canyon University.
My favorite thing about Grand Canyon University is the Christian community. I have never seen students stand so united in Christ. This is most clearly seen during weekly Chapel hour in the Arena. Every week hundreds of students gather to worship God together. I think that it is incredible that so many young adults would take time out of their day to worship. People in this world, especially college-age students, have so many other things fighting for their attention, that it is astounding to see them put their faith as a priority. I enjoy this aspect of GCU the most because it is so encouraging to me as a believer that I am not alone and that there are so many other brothers and sisters in Christ surrounding me every day. I think this Christian community sets GCU apart from other universities and makes it a more tightly knit community.
I think the most important thing GCU students can do on campus is to get involved. It is easy to spend the majority of your days in your room watching Netflix, but that, while comfortable, will not help you to meet people or experience new opportunities. I advise GCU students to go to events and games, join a Life Group, get a job, play a sport, see a play, join an outreach group or go to a club meeting. There are so many opportunities on campus if you just step outside your room. The bed might be comfortable, but making friends and experiencing all GCU has to offer is much more fun and fulfilling.
