Honors College Recognition

The faculty and students in GCU’s Honors College continue to impress with their accomplishments! Read about some of our most distinguished honors community members.

Showcase and Awards

Chelsea Evans, Josh McGuire, Luke Amargo and Catherine Xiong, all students in the Honors College, placed in the silver bracket at the Arizona Collegiate Venture Competition, winning $3,500 in prize money for their business idea, Storage Together.

Honors student Bridgette Smith received the Top Academic Award at the American Criminal Justice Association Champion.

Honors STEM students Gabriela Calhoun, Brianna Abbot, Emma Olcricht, Jacob Windauer, Nicholas Windauer and Ethan Nichols won the Honors College Final Symposium Showcase with their 3D printing project and four-year plan for product development on an emergency life-saving device.

Honors College senior Luke Elliot and a co-worker earned the Salesforce Most Innovative Team award during his time as an intern at Avnet.

  • Honors College alum Taylor Donoho, David Salgado and Austin Byrom were all accepted into prestigious law schools including the Thomas Jefferson School of Law, Gonzaga Law and Baylor Law, respectively – all with prominent scholarship offers.
  • Honors alumna Megan Flores was accepted into the Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.) at Midwestern University.
  • Honors alumna Nikita Pradhan conducted a research project on the Zika virus with the Santa Cruz County Health Department, and is now studying at the University of California San Diego in the Master of Science in Public Health program.
  • Honors alumna Brian Mucyo was selected as a recipient of the 2019 National Federation of the Blind of Arizona (NFBAZ) scholarship and was chosen to become a board member of the Arizona Association of Blind Students (AABS). Since his graduation in 2020, he has also been accepted to more than 10 prestigious law schools on scholarship.
  • 2018 Honors alum, Kara Morrow, served as a White House intern in the fall of 2018 and has since been hired full-time by Arizona Senator Martha McSally.
  • Marco Burgarello, Business Finance and Economics, 2018, was chosen for a selective business fellowship in a two-year urban empowerment initiative. Through Venture for America, Marco is training alongside the next generation of entrepreneurs by focusing on job creation in various American cities.

Chosen from 330 other nominees, Dr. Breanna Naegeli, Dean of the Honors College, made the '40 Under 40' list. Given by the Phoenix Business Journal, this award distinguishes individuals in the valley who make an impact in their community, demonstrate business success and leadership ability while influencing others.

Dr. Breanna Naegeli, Honors College Dean on stage speaking during the Honors College Banquet
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