UNT and the Class of 2026 - Blog 14

    Courtney Wright is a second grade teacher at Uplift Education. On Thursday, April 26, 2012 her second grade class and another took a field trip to UNT. Courtney is a UNT and NT40 alumni and asked current NT40 members to help put together a tour for her students. Administration and Athletics jumped on board and thought this idea to get the elementary kids excited about UNT was the best thing.

    The second grade tour started with a full fledged tour of Apogee Stadium lead by NT40 members and Paul Batchelder, Senior Associate AD, Marketing. The students we led through the tunnels underneath the stadium and met some of the players that were there training. Next, they were taken up to the 5th floor to overlook the stadium at the highest point on the balcony. They were given a tour of the President’s Suite and the club level as well. They were so excited to see how the rooms transformed in order to host a press conference.


    The students were then taken to the main entry level of the stadium stands and were walking to the field when they spotted UNT’s beloved mascot, Scrappy the eagle. The second grade students took off running toward Scrappy hugging and jumping all over him. The alumni, current students and faculty in attendance fell silent with a proud smile on their face when the chorus of the song made it to them. The second graders were singing the UNT fight song with all their might and the UNT spirit was strong in them. 


    “Visiting UNT with my kids was so much fun. Watching them run to Scrappy while screaming the fight song, having a picnic on the football field and a shopping spree in the bookstore all made this an amazing day. Or as one of my kids said, ‘Today was the best day of my life.’ Love the Mean Green and my Mean Green class of 2026” said Courtney Wright.

    The second graders were able to have a picnic on the field with Scrappy and some of the athletic staff. They then were shown around the main campus and were able to see a real college classroom. The students were beyond thrilled and hyper to get to the bookstore and have their parents buy UNT swag for them. 

    “We should do this with all of our alums that are teachers,” said Paul Batchelder. “If we can get the kids out there growing up loving UNT then we would be in far better shape. These kids that live around here should grow up with the spirit of UNT and not the other Texas schools such as UT.”

    The tour was from 9:30 am to 1:00 pm on Thursday and took administration and athletics three weeks to prepare everything. This was the best example of PR that I have seen from UNT. It is not enough to just rely on the current students to tell their friends about UNT but for them to take the time and reach out to the surrounding schools was smart. And as Paul said, it is important to start them young so that they grow up loving UNT and when it comes time to apply they apply here at the school they grew up cheering for.