About

Janelle Horton, originally from New Rochelle, New York, graduated in May of 2016 with a degree in information technology and a minor in business administration. Because she worked hard to earn high grades, and was ahead of her class, Janelle was awarded the Student Information Technology Award. It was very rewarding to Janelle to have her academic skills and hard work recognized: “I was pushed to excel beyond my normal college-level expectations.”

For her senior project Janelle researched the evolution of Ford cars from the very first model up until today’s newest model. She was most interested in the technological aspects of the car: from the evolution of technical equipment within the automobiles to how the exteriors have changed. She researched how much technology has advanced, and how quickly it has changed throughout the years of car building.

After graduating from UNCP, Janelle attended North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University's graduate school for industrial and systems engineering, and hopes to one day have a job working with automotive technology. Janelle has dreamed of working in this field: “ever since I was little I have been obsessed with cars.” Janelle advises honors students to push themselves beyond what they think they can do, because “once a challenging task is accomplished, it’s worth all the hard work.” Janelle’s greatest memory at UNCP was her first week of school as a freshman when she realized that she was on her own and in the real world. Realizing that it was up to her to become involved was a turning point, and once she did so UNCP became her home.

Senior Project

Thesis: Ford: The Evolution of Automobiles, Components, and Design

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Charles Lillie