In the 2009 animated film Up, the child, Ellie, encourages a friend to be less withdrawn. “Adventure is out there!” she cries.
Amber Hollingshead is among many people for whom the line resonated, and she used it to craft the winning entry in Tarrant County College’s graduation hat decorating contest. Her prizes were a frame for the TCC diploma plus an engraved pen set.
“It’s my favorite quote, and Up is my favorite movie,” the recent graduate said. “That was my inspiration.”
Carl, the friend whom Ellie challenges, finally answers the call decades later by attaching 10,287 balloons to his house and soaring off to seek that adventure. Hollingshead’s design incorporated far fewer balloons — 22 — and a small model of the house sold by the Lego company.
“The balloons are wooden balls,” she said. “I painted each one, rolled them in glitter and sealed them. The Lego house had just come out in April.”
Her hat design was chosen from about 80 entries out of which four finalists were submitted for public voting on TCC’s social media platforms. Hollingshead didn’t give herself much of a chance to win, especially when she saw the competition. “I was less hopeful because the other hats were definitely very good.”
While no balloons will be involved, her own personal adventure is about to take off when she enrolls in either Vanderbilt University or the University of Florida as a major in biology.