THE BALLOON MAN

Ringling Bros. circus coming to Charlotte next week
By Bernie Petit
from: gastoniagazette.com
January 21, 2013
While his high school classmates were prepping to start their college careers at places like the University of North Carolina, Harvard and M.I.T., Andrew Hicks was busy clowning around.
Hicks, a Goldsboro, native, dreamed of becoming a Ringling Bros. & Barnum & Bailey clown. It’s a goal he achieved after graduating in 2010 from the prestigious North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics in Durham and one he’ll continue to realize when the Big Top comes to Charlotte next week.
“It’s like going to work and playing for three-and-a-half hours,” Hicks, 21, said in a phone interview last week from Miami, Fla.
Although he’s a first-generation performer, Hicks grew up a clown. As a toddler, he loved watching the 1987 documentary about the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College.
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http://www.gastongazette.com/lifestyles/entertainment/ringling-bros-circus-coming-to-charlotte-next-week-1.82139