Honors graduate Jimmy Hopper will deliver Convocation address Thursday

Fort Worth, TX

4/12/2010

Jimmy Hopper, a TCU history major and one of only four 4.0 graduates from December Commencement, will soon add another accomplishment to his resume. As winner of the John V. Roach Honors College 2010 oratorical competition, Jimmy becomes only the second student to be the featured speaker at Honors Convocation. The event will be at 11 a.m. Thursday, April 15 in Ed Landreth Auditorium.

His talk is titled "When Zombies Attack ... Who Will You Choose?" In addition, the program will include announcement of the Honors Professor of the Year and musical performances by Honors College students Tim Halperin, Maddison Grigsby and Julia Parker.

Ron Pitcock, the J. Vaughn and Evelyne H. Wilson Honors Fellow and Assistant Director of the Honors College, developed the idea of selecting a student speaker prior to last year's Convocation. Director Peggy Watson and other Honors colleagues concurred, selecting a speech contest as the means to assess potential candidates within Honors. Ron provides a general topic for a 15-minute speech and asks contestants to approach the subject from whatever direction they chose. This year's candidates gave presentations around the general theme "Love in the Millennium."

Honors Week begins with the presentation of Senior Honors Projects today and tomorrow. The Festival of Student Scholarship and Creativity starts Wednesday and continues through the end of the week in each of the Schools and Colleges. The 48th annual Honors Banquet will be held at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Brown-Lupton University Union ballroom. Scott Williams (modern languages), 2009 Honors Professor of the Year, and 2010 Departmental Senior Scholars will be recognized.