For the first time, a student will be keynote speaker at TCU Honors Convocation

Preston Swincher, Honors double degree senior from Austin, won the speech contest that makes him the keynote speaker at Honors Convocation

Fort Worth, TX

4/7/2009

Preston Swincher, a senior BBA Entrepreneurial Management and BFA Musical Theatre double degree Honors student from Austin, will soon add another accomplishment to his resume. As winner of the Honors Program's first oratorical competition, Preston becomes the first student ever to be the featured speaker at Honors Convocation. The event will be at 11 a.m. Thursday, April 16 in Ed Landreth Auditorium.

His talk is titled “How the Internet Crashed Our Party.”  In addition, the program will include announcement of the Honors Professor of the Year and musical performances by Justin Brown & Company and classical pianist Danny Zelibor, also Honors students.

Ron Pitcock, the J. Vaughn and Evelyne H. Wilson Honors Fellow and Assistant Director of the Honors Program, developed the idea of selecting a student speaker. Director Peggy Watson and other Honors colleagues concurred, selecting a speech contest as the means to assess potential candidates within Honors. Ron provided a general topic for a 15-minute speech — “Living a Facebook Life in a Google World” —and then asked contestants to approach the subject from whatever direction they chose.

Student speakers presented their talks before a panel of judges in early March. “All of the judges were impressed with the speakers. Many of the students demonstrated the rhetorical maturity necessary for speaking in an academic setting. Our hope is that both students and faculty will be both challenged to think and entertained,” says Pitcock.

Soon after the competition, Preston was notified of his win (and the $2,000 check that goes with it). This semester, he also appeared in the recent Theatre TCU production of A Chorus Line, and is preparing to graduate on May 9.  His other stage roles while at TCU have included parts in Hamlet, Anatomy of Gray, Anything Goes, Burial at Thebes, Cabaret and The Bald Soprano.

Honors Week begins with the presentation of Senior Honors Projects Monday and Tuesday, April 13-14. The Festival of Student Scholarship and Creativity starts Wednesday and continues through the end of the week. The 47th annual Honors Banquet will be held at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, April 16, at The Fort Worth Club. Blaise Ferrandino, 2008 Honors Professor of the Year, and 2009 Departmental Senior Scholars will be recognized.

TCU has officially announced establishment of the John V. Roach Honors College, supplanting the Honors Program founded 46 years ago. It will open in August 2009. Funded by a $2.5 million gift from Paul and Judy Andrews of Fort Worth, the endowed gift pays tribute to their friend, longtime Fort Worth civic leader, businessman and former chairman of the TCU Board of Trustees John Roach.