Grizzlyfest Fills Campus With GGC Spirit

Last October, nearly 450 enthusiastic alumni, students, faculty, staff and friends gathered for Grizzlyfest – A GGC Homecoming. The event’s activities included musical and dance entertainment and crowning of the 2019 Homecoming king and queen. Guests of all ages enjoyed arts and crafts, balloon artists and displays. Children playing bubble soccer bounced around the lawn. The popular Deans’ Chili Cook-Off offered samples of nine recipes ranging from Thai turkey to vegan Georgia peach to hearty white. The crowd picked a Southwestern style beef chili by Tyler Yu, dean of the School of Business, as the favorite – making Yu a three-time champ. “The Chili Cook-Off raised over $1,100 – for the GGC Fund, 44 percent more than 2018,” said Holly Lisle, director of Alumni Engagement. “The GGC Fund helps support student financial aid, scholarships, honors programming, service recognition and campus events.” The event ended with the Baseball Experience, which included batting and catch practice for community children with current GGC baseball players and coaches.

Fresh Approach to a Common Program

Many colleges and universities present a common read program for their campuses, selecting a specific book to provide a unifying, integrative campus experience via explorations of the book’s content and themes through various programming opportunities. “GGC is taking a fresh approach to the program under the new name, GGC Reads,” said Dr. Barbara Mann, dean of Library Services. “This year’s title is the New York Times bestseller, ‘Educated’ by Tara Westover, winner of many literary awards and a finalist for multiple literacy prizes.” “Educated” recounts the author’s personal higher education journey after growing in a survivalist family from Idaho. Westover, who had no formal schooling, followed an older brother’s path to college. She studied for the ACT, passed, and was accepted to Brigham Young University. Westover was unprepared for the educational, social and cultural requirements of a college student. During class discussions, for example, she showed no knowledge of the Holocaust or the Civil Rights Movement. Through perseverance, she excelled, winning fellowships to Cambridge and Harvard universities and eventually receiving a doctorate from Cambridge. Though “Educated” is an intensely personal memoir, readers can relate to a variety of themes including what it means to be educated, the importance of resilience, strength-based identity, sense of loss and reconciliation, racial identity, social integration, mental illness, naturalism and others. “Because ‘Educated’ touches on so many experiences universal to college students, many faculty are creatively using it as part of their curriculum, including courses in education, English, sociology and history,” said Mann. “Our Center for Teaching Excellence created workshops to help faculty wishing to integrate the book into their courses.” The GGC Reads committee created strategies to raise awareness of the program, including hosting tables at fall semester events, a majors/minors information session and an official launch event. Other activities included informal book discussions, as well as a Make Your Mark Student Success Fair and Imposter Syndrome Panel co-sponsored by the Council to Advise Transitional Studies and First Generation Task Force. “We appreciate the generous funding from GGC Student Affairs that enabled students to obtain free copies of 'Educated',” said Mann. Copies also are available for checkout from the library.