A WAY OUT

An intimate tale about breaking new ground

by Carla Morris

Simple stories sometimes pack a surprising punch. Here’s one:

My brother died. My father died. I hurt. I set up my tent in the camp of the angry. Then Jesus Christ, lover of my soul, came to me, whispered my name, and led me out.

Suzanne (Allison ’00) Davis tells the story as only one who lived it can. She calls her spiritual awakening “a journey that I will never take for granted.”

Part of that journey occurred when she was a student at GU studying philosophy and political science and competing in track and volleyball. Part of it occurred on her nightly drives from campus to a hospital in St. Louis to visit her dying brother. Like another brother, he suffered from a genetic neuromuscular disease that caused seizures and strokes.

“That’s when I really started dealing with some of life’s toughest questions,” she says, “like, ‘Why is there suffering?’ and ‘How can there be a good god?’”

Suzanne arrived at GU as a freshman in 1996, disappointed over the loss of an athletic scholarship from a Division I school, rebellious, an atheist, and “chasing the wind.” In time, however, she said “yes” to Jesus and to professors and coaches who helped her “see beyond my own nose.” By graduation, she

possessed skills, intellect, a growing faith, and an outlook that would help her earn advanced degrees in law and business.

“I’m not sure where I would be without the people who poured into me as a college student,” she says.

Serendipitous conversations sometimes pack a surprising punch, too, like the one Suzanne shared years later with GU Professor Richard Huston. The two had run into each other unexpectedly. She told about practicing law and teaching business part time at a state university. He said GU’s business department had an opening; would she be interested in teaching at her alma mater?

“The more I prayed about it,” she recalls, “the more I couldn’t let it go.” Since her return to GU in 2012, Suzanne has made it a priority to help students see beyond themselves. Sometimes expanding their worlds means connecting them with experts in their fields or having them work alongside business owners and entrepreneurs to solve marketplace problems.

Sometimes it means inviting students to join her in business meetings, or inviting them to think deeply about vocation, purpose, and God’s call.

Today, when the conversation turns to the value GU brings, Suzanne speaks from experience. “People here challenged me to look beyond a job and a paycheck; they helped me thrive. I’m privileged to help today’s students do the same.”

For Davis, expanding students’ worlds sometimes means connecting them to entrepreneurs, inviting them to join her in business meetings, or encouraging them to explore ideas like vocation and God’s call.

Helping students discover A WAY IN

Only three percent of youth raised in foster homes graduate from college. TRAILBLAZER Olivia Mansfield ’24 is determined to defy those statistics and succeed. The Children’s Home Association of Illinois (CHAI) recently featured the GU sophomore and member of GU’s track team in a mini documentary that shows Olivia on campus and at the John Strahl Athletic Complex. Olivia says she’s “abundantly blessed” for many reasons, including GU donors who fund her Panther Preferred Scholarship that enables her to stay in school. The scholarship goes to students who demonstrate strong character and academic determination. Thank you for giving.

PhotocourtesyofChild ren’ s H o m e A s soc ia tion o fIllinois