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Pictured (from left): Andrianna Price, Andrew Higgins, Andrew Perez, Mary-Faith Wilson, Isabel Tresidder, Alison Majors, Madeline Simmons, Skylar Hodson, Jeisy Munoz, Araceli Landaverde, Avery Woods, Remington Covey, Kaden Groda, and Vanessajane Bayna

By: Dr. Andrew Yox, Honors Director

For the 34th time, thanks to honors donors such as Drs. Jim and Paula Archer, NTCC honors students were able to take a free, day-trip to a big city. Fourteen students and two NTCC staff drivers left campus at 7:30 a.m., 20 September for a whirlwind experience that began with free breakfasts at Starbucks in Greenville, and ended with improv comedy with the Four Day Weekendtroupe in Fort Worth.

The itinerary also included a stay at the stockyard district for the daily procession of cows, a competitive race through the stockyard maze—won by the two Andrews, Higgins and Perez—lunch at the Reata, an excursion to the Fort Worth cultural district, with its great museum trio of the Kimbell, the Amon Carter, and the Modern Art, a stopover for tourism and a supper at Sundance Square, and a late-night stop at Buc-ees.  NTCC navigator, Paula Flores, and Honors Director, Dr. Andrew Yox, drove a large suburban and van.  

One highlight with the trip was a special visit made by sophomore Presidential Scholars, Alison Majors, and Vanessajane Bayna to the home of former NTCC president, Dr. Charles B. Florio.  Dr. Florio not only inspirited the initial setup of honors at NTCC in 2007, but has since been an important patron of the program.  He now lives only a few blocks outside of the cultural district of Fort Worth.

Another special highlight of the trip this year was the

 singing.  In the ultra- acoustic soundscape of Richard Serra’s Vortex in the culture district, the group has traditionally experimented with various sounds.  This year the singing of Madeline Simmons, and Mary-Faith Wilson had a special charm, as the two could sing by heart and with special mellifluousness, several songs they had in common.

Another interesting aspect of the trip was the link-up with Luke McCraw, last year’s Florio Scholar, now at Dallas Baptist University, and a Gunn Scholar there.  Traffic made it impossible for McCraw to attend class at DBU and see Dr. Florio, who once worked with McCraw’s grandfather, Michael Dennehy at NTCC.  But he joined the group in the culture district, and for the fun the group had after the comedy show below.