What it is Like to Live as a Lope

kids walking in a line

Living on campus at Grand Canyon University is one of the best parts of being a GCU student. There are so many things to do and fun events and clubs to join on campus. There are so many ways to get involved and make friends on campus.

What Campus Offers

The GCU campus has so much more to offer than just classrooms and dorms. GCU does have great living options; they offer apartment style living in addition to dorms, which gives students the ability to cook. The apartments include a kitchen and gives students a little more privacy than the dorms. Campus has many fun places to hang out with friends, or spend time studying.

  • GCBC: GCU has two Grand Canyon Beverage Company (GCBC) locations; one is in the roadrunner apartments and has outside seating and the other is located on the second floor of the student union and takes up the entire second floor with a lot of both indoor and outdoor seating. The GCBC vibe is always so fun and a positive environment to hang out in, with great music and friendly people.
  • Library: The library is located on both the third and fourth floor of the student union and is a nice and quiet location to work on homework and focus on studying. In the library you have access to GCU computers, as well as printers. There is also a lot of seating and tables to give you and your friends a nice place to do your school work.
  • Thunderground: If you are looking for a fun place to hang out on campus, Thunderground is the place to go. There is bowling, ping pong and many other fun games to play with friends. Many events are held down there throughout the year, including karaoke every Thursday night.

Events

Canyon Activities Board (CAB) hosts many events on campus throughout the year. They put on events for both on campus students and commuter students. There are numerous events every month, but here are a few of the major ones to look forward to throughout the year.

  • Hanging of the Greens: This is a formal event put on around Christmas time. This event gives you the opportunity to show off your best formal wear and eat some good food, dance and take cute pictures with friends.
  • Lip sync Battle: The GCU Lip Sync Battle is put on at the beginning of the year and allows students to get into teams and show off their best dance moves and lip sync skills and compete against each other and the rest of the student body decides who they think the best team is.
  • Mr. GCU: This is GCU’s version of a “beauty pageant” but with males. Similar to the lip sync battle, they show off their talents and the student body gets to vote for the winner.
  • Casino Night: Dress up in your formal attire, grab some friends, enjoy some mocktails and learn to gamble at the GCU Casino Night.
  • Snow Much Fun and Winterfest: These two winter themed events allow you to have some fun with friends playing winter themed games, enjoying music, photo booths, hot chocolate, s’mores and many more.
  • Midnight Breakfast: Towards the end of every semester, GCU hosts midnight breakfast, which has a wide variety of breakfast items, GCBC drinks, games, photo booths, music, dancing and performances to help you take a break from studying for finals and have some fun.

On Campus Dining

There are many dining options on campus, such as Chick fil a, Pita Jungle, Panda Express, Habit, Qdoba, Taco Bell, Fresh Fusion, Einstein’s Bagels, and many more. GCU has a wide variety of dining options to cure any of your cravings.

Sports

GCU offers so many sports on campus, both to play for scholarships, as well as just for fun with intramural sports. We have baseball, soccer, basketball, softball, track and field, volleyball and many more. Basketball is the sport that GCU is known for and our wild student section that you can join at every game, the Havocs!

  • Midnight Madness: This is one event that you will not want to miss. Midnight Madness is the kickoff to basketball season that introduces the players and hypes up the students to get excited about the upcoming season. Each year there is a new theme involved and campus is decked out in decorations according to the theme.

Living as Lopes

To learn more about what it is like to live as a student at GCU, follow Elisha, Brittany, Callie, Sebastian, Noah, Hailey-James and Keegan on the new GCU reality show “Living as Lopes” and follow them through their college journey here.

If you are interested in learning more about all GCU’s campus has to offer or want to read more about GCU, check out our website.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Grand Canyon University. Any sources cited were accurate as of the publish date.

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