UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp kicked off a weeklong tour of the state today by hanging out with some students in an honors science research class at Chapel Hill High School.

Though in a suit and Carolina blue tie, Thorp was a bit overdressed for a high school class where even the teacher, Tom Herndon, wore a T-shirt and shorts, Carolina's new boss eased into things by asking students about their ongoing science experiments and talking up the university. He hit on a number of UNC's signature programs, espousing the virtues of study abroad, the hard sciences and undergraduate research.

And he distributed Carolina T-shirts to the eight class members and to Herndon, an N.C. State grad who made the sour milk face when Thorp plopped the baby blue tee in front of him. Thorp even tried to goad the teacher into making a friendly wager with the students on this fall's UNC/NCSU football game, where Herndon would have to wear the UNC shirt if Carolina won.

Herndon was having none of it.

"My wife's a [UNC] grad so I can share it with her," he said. "I don't know if I can wear it, though."

Thorp fielded a few questions from students. One asked what motivates him.

"Our institution is the one that created public higher education," he responded. "You know those bumper stickers that say 'Think globally, act locally'? We've been doing that for 219 years.

Follow this link for more info on Thorp's tour.