By Dr. Andrew Yox, Honors Director
For thirteen years in a row, Drs. Jim and Paula Archer have helped imbue Honors at NTCC with a unique social dynamic. Each one of those years has begun with a roundup at their ranch south of Pittsburg, and with a day trip to the DFW metroplex, thanks to the remarkable patronage of these endeavors by the Archers.
This year the group went on 20 September to the Greenville Starbucks, the Fort Worth Zoo, the Woodshed Smokehouse on the Trinity River, the Kimbell, and Amon Carter Art Galleries, and to Richard Serra’s Vortex, for a now traditional “sound-out” session of rhythm, and song. The fall trip concluded with a challenge night with the honors students of Tarrant College. The 2019-20 honors students were the first group at NTCC to overcome the much larger Tarrant Cornerstone Honors program in a Jenga Challenge.
The students attending the trip above from left to right on the top row were: Courtney Baldwin, Daniel Landaverde, Sam Griffin, Gem Elmore, Jaidyn Thompson, and Katelyn Cox. Bottom row: Peyton McClendon, Mercedes Collins, Jailyn English, Jacob Lambie, Angelo Vasquez, Haley Bucsanyi, and Brian Taylor (former honors student).
Faculty drivers included Noemi Deciga, Dr. Melissa Fulgham, and Dr. Andrew Yox. Professor Jim Ward accompanied the group through all the events.
Dr. Jim Archer, a long term chemistry professor at NTCC, and Dr. Paula Archer, a former IBM consultant who has secured grants for NTCC from her former corporation, have also treated the group to yearly roundups at their ranch. This year’s dinner, on 28 September, with the hamburgers grilled and donated by Honors Professor, Dr. Mary Hearron, included 40 honors students, parents, and family members.
Since 2007, thanks to patrons like the Archers, Honors Northeast has cultivated a culture of scholarship and accolades. This has resulted in a unique website of award-winning works of art and scholarship on Northeast Texas www.ntcc.edu/honors. Over forty of its students have won national awards, and the students of the last four years have been qualifying for thirty presentations and three scholarly publications every year.
