Denton ISD Our Impact In Your Community Magazine Fall 2015 | Page 16

to be taking to be better prepared for
college and monitor their grades a bit more
seriously as they get older and the reality of
high school begins to set in.
UNT did its part to ensure that many of
the students would be back on campus
sooner rather than later too. The middle
schoolers were encouraged to jot down
what they spotted and learned during their
day on campus as part of a scavenger
hunt and academic advisors rewarded the
participants with T-shirts, tickets to athletic
events and the biggest prize of the day
–$2,000 worth of scholarship money in the
form of eight $500 scholarships (at least
one per middle school) to any Denton
ISD student that enrolls at the university
and becomes part of the Mean Green
graduating Class of 2026.
“This fit right in with our [university]
president’s message of celebrating our past
and tying it back into those that will be part
of our future,” said Dr. Elizabeth With, vice
president of student affairs for UNT.
That future could very likely include many
of these same sixth graders leading campus
tours at universities in Austin, Lubbock, Waco
or any other great college town in the
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Photographs by Julie Zwahr

United States. But it could also lead to them
staying home, being successful in Denton
and leading Future Eagles of their own.

“It was a great field trip and I appreciated
that they went out of their way to make us
feel like we could be successful here,” said
Avery Parker, a sixth grader at Myers. “And
even though I still have no idea what I want
to do when I grow up, I think I’ll come to UNT.”