By: Cade Bennett, Honors Coordinator
Since 2012, NTCC honors students have filmed in many areas of Texas including Fort Worth, New Braunfels, Nacogdoches, Salado, Uncertain, and all the college’s surrounding counties. They have enjoyed and reminisced about many of these trips. But one trip they raved about was a 2024 visit to the Daphne Prairie nature preserve, in Franklin County. There, they saw quail, meadowlarks, foxes, and even–in fall–a host of blooming wildflowers.
On 22 August, four NTCC honors students again visited Daphne Prairie, only this time as part of a meeting of the Northeast Texas Native Prairies Association.
Daphne Prairie, a 922-acre remembrance of the region’s past, in Franklin County, has been carefully preserved by the Mount Vernon Lawyer, B.F. Hicks. It provides the best vistas we have of what settlers of the previous century would have seen when making this area of Northeast Texas home. Mr. Hicks shares his prairie with numerous visitors, many times a year. There are bird-watching events, live music on the prairie, and on Saturday, August 22, 2026, a naturalist night of insect-viewing amongst black light backdrops.
The Honors Program had an express invitation to attend, with four students engaging with the event: Jordan Krumrie, Sky Bass, Stephany Fuentes, and Silas Mendoza. NTCC’s new Honors Coordinator, Cade Bennett, also attended.
The night included a presentation on the current state of the Screw Worm Fly in Texas, a hayride across the vast prairie learning about many of the rare grasses (such as one of the two largest remaining examples of Silveus’ Dropseed), and a night of moth observations at several black light stations. This provided a lucrative opportunity for Krumrie and Fuentes, both Biology majors, to learn from the visiting researchers. They also conducted observations of their own.
Jordan Krumrie, an incoming Presidential Scholar from Mount Pleasant High School noted: "At the 'Northeast Texas Chapter's Moth Night on Daphne Prairie,' I got to learn about the dangers that the New World screwworm fly presents to our cattle industry, and how we are actively fighting against this pest. I also got to see the beautiful biodiversity that Northeast Texas has to offer, specifically the moths and other insects that inhabit our wilderness, and I got to meet some amazing people who are extremely passionate about preserving the Prairie and the endangered species that are on it."
Stephany Fuentes, an accomplished scholar enrolled both in biological research and organic chemistry this semester at NTCC noted: "I enjoyed spending time at the Daphne Prairie for Moth Night and am incredibly grateful for the experience. It was wonderful to see everyone inspired and in awe of the biodiversity around us. The welcoming and enthusiastic atmosphere made the evening even more special. One of my favorite parts was going on a hayride during sunset and getting to see the different species present on the prairie."
