Surviving freshman year in the Honors College at GCU means surviving your very first spring symposium, something that you fear since the beginning of Welcome Week…

Sorry to disappoint, but, it wasn’t all that terrible!

One striking feature of the Honors College is the value of experience over tedious book study. The symposium is designed to show freshmen what their lives will look like in their chosen profession. It offers real-life experience and requires students to practice the very skills they will need in their future career. As a business major, my symposium project consisted of getting into groups and coming up with a business solution to any kind of issue. This solution could be anything from an innovative idea to a business proposal. The symposium is separated into two parts, two hours on two different Saturday mornings.

The first Saturday session was spent learning about the millions of investible ideas within technological advances and the growing market of 2018. We learned how entrepreneurs’ problem solve and how market research can modify and improve their ideas. Investing, inventing and creating were encouraged, so that business students can start changing and evolving their own corner of the world. At the end, we were given our specific tasks and split into groups.

My group met twice in between the first and second Saturdays to come up with, and solidify, our solution. We decided to suggest a business proposal for Lope Storage, a solution to both out-of-state and in-state students to cheaply and safely store their stuff in summer.

On the morning of the second symposium session, we began presenting all of the solutions. It was so interesting and educational to hear the variety of proposals- from sensor collision-detecting ski helmets, to food delivery and valet services on campus. In the end, the top 3 ideas where automatically pushed to the symposium showcase, a platform for students to offer their best ideas for a chance at a scholarship. My group happened to be one of them!

We hope to work hard and push our company through the next rounds of the Honors Symposium showcase, but in the meantime, my team and I feel thankful for everything we learned from the symposium. It has helped us better prepare, adapt and create in the global environment, which is something that is much more important than a test grade.

So if you are worried for the freshman symposium, don’t stress- you’ve got this!

To learn more about how you can join the community of motivated and ambitious students in Grand Canyon University’s Honors College, visit our website or click the Request More Information button.