One Million Stories, One Student: A Look into Brian Mucyo’s Life

Brian Mucyo is someone that could probably spend about three days explaining his life story– yes, it’s that eventful!

I got the chance to sit down with this honors student and ask him a few questions about his life. He is a junior here at GCU studying finance and economics with minors in both Christian and legal studies. Brian was born in Rwanda and moved to Belgium when he was six years old for better health and education opportunities because of his vision disability. After completing his education through middle school, he moved back to Rwanda to be with his family, where he also was able to begin to attend a brand new special education program in the same high school his brothers were attending. He built strong connections with the program developer and was even gifted a special device that allowed him to learn without the constant help of a teacher’s aide. He worked closely with the program to help other students learn according to their needs.

After two years of high school, Brian was able to move to Oregon to attend an international private Christian school that suited his health needs. He said he loved meeting so many wonderful people that he is still friends with today, as well as being surrounded by students from all over the world like himself.

He and a close friend decided to apply to GCU, and Brian was blessed with a sponsorship for his tuition. He is now a part of the Honors College and works for the Academic and Career Excellence Center as both a K-12 and College Lead. Though he’s incredibly busy, you might be able to spot him walking around campus with his service dog and companion, Mannix.

Over the last six months, Brian has been developing and implementing an English Empowerment program for kids in Phoenix through the ACE Center. As he was helping K-12 students with the ACE Center, he noticed that many knew English but didn’t have the confidence to express themselves with it. Some even see this as an unmovable barrier and disregard any chance at progressing to college. English is Brian’s fourth language, and he completely understood the struggles kids have learning additional languages. He decided that he wanted to change this, and he has been working on a complete curriculum for developing the skills these children already have. He has gotten the chance to present his business plan in front of GCU management and has even developed a team to support this program. Brian says that they hope in the long run it can grow into its own outreach program.

What’s next for this ambitious student? He plans on attending law school and using his degree to help underprivileged children in developing countries receive better education and healthcare opportunities– especially those with disabilities. He would like to use his own experience to help solve some of these issues, so that kids like him don’t become limited in life just because of where they were born.

To learn more about becoming a part of our motivated and ambitious community of honors students, visit our website or click the Request More Information button on this page.