Q&A with the GSP Recipients

Select Your Region:

Seattle
Spokane
Phoenix
Denver
Portland

Tacoma

San Francisco/Bay Area

Seattle

Izze Carter-Vincent

Why did you choose Gonzaga?
I had such a good experience at Seattle Prep that I wanted to continue learning in the Jesuit tradition in order to grow as not only as a student but a person.

How has Gonzaga shaped you to be the person you are today?
At GU I have learned to trust people to accept me for the person I am without the fear of being ridiculed or judged.  I have formed a greater self awareness and learned to depend on my community instead of always trying to handle everything on my own.

What has surprised you about your experience at Gonzaga?
The community of learning has surprised me. Unlike at a state school, the love of learning and intellectual curiosity are cherished and tended to like a budding flower until they bloom. Students who care about their performance and learning are not stigmatized here and nerds cross boundaries. There isn’t a separation in jocks and nerds and theatre kids as most recently illustrated by Stephen Grey, one of our star basketball players, taking a leading role in a play this fall. We don’t fall into cliques and stereotypes here, and people are allowed to be who they are without judgment or ridicule.  

What do you like best about Gonzaga?
My favorite part of Gonzaga is the community. I feel like I can talk to anyone here and know that they will support me and give me whatever help I need to succeed, but I know that there isn’t an expectation that I share if I am unwilling, unready, or uncomfortable.

What's your favorite thing about being a Zag?
The Zag family is my favorite thing about being a Zag. Everyone here is family, and I think that has a lot to do with the Jesuit aspects of the institution. It’s the same at Seattle Prep, and that’s the main reason that I wanted to continue in the Jesuit tradition.

What feelings are evoked when you think about Gonzaga?
Pride, love, comfort, and stability.

What is your hope for Gonzaga's future?
I hope that Gonzaga continues to be an institution focused on the whole person where students feel supported and know that there is always someone there for them.

Why should someone give to Gonzaga?
A donation to Gonzaga is an investment in the future because Gonzaga fosters intelligent, loving, supportive, understanding individuals that will impact the world on a greater level. Gonzaga offers its students infectious kindness and love that is spread throughout not only the GU community but the communities around students' homes and graduates' home and work. GU is taking the steps to make the world a better place, one well-rounded, educated, compassionate person at a time.

Spokane

 Ty Weeks

Why did you choose Gonzaga?
I chose to attend Gonzaga because I grew up in the Spokane area and I remember watching the basketball team and wanting to be part of that crowd. Then when I grew up and it was time to apply to colleges I discovered everything else that it had to offer.

How has Gonzaga shaped you to be the person you are today?
By attending Gonzaga, I have become more outgoing and a harder worker.

What has surprised you about your experience at Gonzaga?
I was surprised at how many new people I met and how quickly I made new friends.

What do you like best about Gonzaga?
The thing I like best about Gonzaga is hanging out with my friends and going to the basketball games.

What’s your favorite thing about being a Zag?
My favorite thing about being a Zag is that I’m now part of a very large community of people that are always willing to help me.

What feelings are evoked when you think about Gonzaga?
When I think of Gonzaga, it makes me think of my new family, which are all the new people that I have become friends with and those that are here to support me.

What is your hope for Gonzaga’s future?
I hope that in the future Gonzaga is able to able to give more students scholarships so that more students are given the opportunity to enjoy the college experience and get a quality education.

Why should someone give to Gonzaga?
People who give to Gonzaga are giving students the opportunity to attend a college that they might not otherwise be able to attend if they didn’t receive scholarships. Had I not received the Gonzaga Scholars Program award, I might not be at this school today.

Phoenix

Edgar Loya

Why did you choose Gonzaga?
I chose Gonzaga because in addition to the great opportunities it presented me with, I wanted to attend a Jesuit University—Gonzaga happened to be one of the few Jesuit institutions with a strong mission still intact—in short, it was a no-brainer.

How has Gonzaga shaped you to be the person you are today?
Gonzaga has picked up where my high school, and therefore the beginning of my Jesuit education, left off—constantly shaping me to be a Man for Others—the “Vatican II person” I was envisioned to be according to Brophy College Prep.  Gonzaga’s classical Jesuit core curriculum, its student life and the whole educational ambiance keeps me true to the “Graduate-at-Graduation” qualities that were initially introduced to me at Brophy:  To be Open to Growth, Intellectually Competent, Religious, Loving and Committed to Doing Justice—all for the Greater Glory of God.  It definitely brings my high school mission and my university experience thus far, to full circle.

What has surprised you about your experience at Gonzaga?
What has most surprised me about GU is that even in the midst of a decline of quality in other Jesuit educational institutions across the nation, due to a swelling secularism and a culture of political correctness, Gonzaga and its strict adherence to its mission provides its students with a well-founded system of Catholic-influenced values and morals.

What's your favorite thing about being a Zag?
My favorite thing about being a Zag is the classroom environment—it is here where the soul of this school lay; where our minds are subject to periodic epiphanies of life realizations and philosophical enlightenment, and where we experience that all with community.

What feelings are evoked when you think about Gonzaga?
Apart from feeling thrilled when thinking “basketball,” when I think about Gonzaga I immediately think “leaders-in training within a spiritual community—all for the Glory of God.”

What is your hope for Gonzaga's future?
Considering that institutions of higher education ultimately serve to educate the privileged and elite of society (taking into account that the majority of the world does not receive nearly the quality or amount of education that we do)—my biggest hope is that Gonzaga continues to provide the world with conscientious leaders.

Why should someone give to Gonzaga?
People should donate to Gonzaga in order to help develop a new generation of leaders with well-founded values and morals; open-minded leaders who are spiritually enlightened and committed to social justice for the love of God and all of humanity.

Denver

Jacqueline Davis

Class of 2014
Mechanical Engineering
Denver, CO

"Thank you so much, scholarships definitely helped me come here and it's a dream to come here and I wouldn't have been able to afford Gonzaga otherwise."

> Click here for a video interview with Jacqueline.

Portland

Hayley Stewart

Class of 2014
Undeclared
Portland, OR

"One person can make a big difference in the sense that you are not just a number, but you are a part of something bigger and there are so many ways to get involved... I really enjoy that and that is one of the reasons I chose Gonzaga."

> Click here for a video interview with Hayley

Rebecca Kelvin

Class of 2014
Undeclared
Portland, OR

"I feel like thank you is an understatement because [scholarships] make a huge impact on people's experiences. It just makes it so you can really truly focus on the education. Thank you, it makes all the difference in the world."

> Click here for a video interview with Rebecca

Tacoma

Joel Odimba

Class of 2013
Political Science
Tacoma, WA

"The best part [of Gonzaga] would be the people that you come in contact with, whether it be your professors, your RA's, your friends, or random people. I can walk around campus, look at a stranger, and say ‘hi.'"

> Click here for a video interview with Joel

San Francisco/Bay Area

Dwayne Williams

Class of 2013
Mechanical Engineering
San Francisco, CA

"Those who give us scholarships, thank you very much. Without you, I wouldn't have this opportunity to be here."

> Click here for a video interview with Dwayne

Henry Rodgers

Class of 2014
Oakland, CA

"Would not be here without your support. I get a great experience at Gonzaga. I really wanted to go here - thank you."

East Coast

Kirsten Porter

Class of 2014
Pottstown, PA

"Thank you for everything. You've definitely changed my experience here."