Featured Young Alumni
Joey Parr '09
After graduating from TCU in 2009 with a double major in Political Science and Film/Television/Digital Media, Joey Parr joined the Teach For America South Louisiana corps and taught 4th grade for two years in Baker, Louisiana. During each year in the classroom, his class advanced three years in math as measured by the LEAP (Louisiana Educational Assessment Program) exam.
The gains he saw in the classroom inspired Joey to pursue a career affecting wider educational change through policy. "I've always believed that anyone fortunate enough to graduate from college ought to do a few years of service for the betterment of the country. There are many ways to serve and, after deep reflection, I found that education was the best way for me to contribute," said Parr.
Joey moved to Austin to earn his masters in Public Affairs from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas. While at LBJ, he began working at the Texas Education Agency's Office of Federal and State Education Policy on multiple projects, including the implementation of the T-STEM (Texas-Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) Program, which aims to double the number of STEM schools in Texas.
To keep his right brain satisfied, Joey recently teamed up with film and TCU colleague Jimmy Samis '11 to found Panther City Pictures, a production company making narrative and documentary movies in Fort Worth, showcasing the city's best talent, resources and stories. "It seemed that a lot of people felt that going to California was the only way to make movies, but we felt that we had everything we needed right here. Also, I grew up watching movies about LA and New York and I got tired of not seeing my hometown streets on the big screen. There is no reason why Camp Bowie, or Magnolia, or Arlington Heights High School shouldn't be in a movie," Parr said.
He recently finished co-directing the sci-fi short Branch Line starring Charlie Baker from AMC's Breaking Bad and legendary actor Bill Cobbs from Night at the Museum and That Thing You Do! The hometown premiere will be in mid-November—just as the film hits the festival circuit. Joey is currently preparing to shoot his first feature film—The Pickle—a dark comedy partially inspired by his years as a teacher. The film will be shot in Fort Worth during the summer of 2013. "I hope to get it finished before I turn 27. That'd put me on par with Orson Welles first feature—not to imply that The Pickle will be better than Citizen Kane. It may not be," said Parr. Panther City Pictures can be found and followed at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Panther-City-Pictures/390748947654591?ref=ts.
Joey credits TCU with giving him the know-how and desire to pursue interests from both sides of the brain and the belief in the importance of living a balanced life.