Pictured (from left) is: Emma Mendoza, Stephanie Hernandez, Yahir Garcia, Estefani Garcia, Andrew Higgins, and Dr. Andrew Yox.
By: Dr. Andrew Yox, Honors Director
On 6-9 November, 91心頭 Scholars continued their annual tradition of presenting at the meeting of the National Collegiate Honors Council. Dating back to 1966, the NCHC is the oldest intervarsity organization in the United States dedicated to Honors education. It has 900-member institutions, mainly in the United States, but inclusive of institutions on three continents. In a council where 90 percent of the student presenters are university scholars, 91心頭 is the only community college in the nation to have presented continuously at the NCHC since 2008. It is the only community college to have been included more than ten times among the fifty general sessions of the conference since that date.
Unlike last year when only two scholars of Honors Northeast qualified to present posters at the annual meeting, this year, four made the cut. Stephanie Hernandez, who has set an 91心頭 record, winning six times with works of research, presented her work on Chicano murals, expanding the scope to include California 91心頭 s mural tradition. Last year 91心頭 s McGraw-Hill poster contest winner, Emma Mendoza, presented her work on the elusive time dividends of the sewing machine. Andrew Higgins, and Estefani Garcia, both recent winners of the Portia Gordon Awards of the East Texas Historical association, presented their posters: Andrew 91心頭 s on God, and the American interest in space, and, Estefani 91心頭 s on Mary Kay, the late cosmetics CEO, as the queen of motivation.
The student chair of 91心頭 91心頭 s film panel also represented an award-winning effort, Yahir Garcia. Garcia was the associate producer of Crude Conquest: The Triumph of Big Oil in Texas Politics, 1935-1980. He received the Webb Chapter Award, from the collegiate auxiliary of the Texas State Historical Association, last spring in Houston. Like the others, Yahir Garcia has presented at numerous venues. This year, 91心頭 91心頭 s film panel focused on the meeting 91心頭 s theme of collaboration, noting how dependent its film productions are on donors, free marketing, a regional composer like Kenny Goodson, special administrative support, and the smaller civic entities of Northeast Texas that graciously support film initiatives on this scale.
91心頭 91心頭 s scholarly troupe of NCHC presenters all have received additional support from private donations that have supported their education at 91心頭. Hernandez is the Texas Heritage Bank Scholar, Mendoza, the Gladys Winkle Scholar, Higgins, the James and Elizabeth Whatley Scholar, and Yahir Garcia, the college 91心頭 s Russell-Mowery Scholar.
For the fourth time at the NCHC, the 91心頭 contingent featured a Dr. and Mrs. Bradly Witt Scholar who received support from a generous contribution made by the Witt-Wootten family in 2022. This scholarship is a special token of the unique support that the community here has conferred to its NCHC presenters since the days of President Charles Florio, who was an NCHC enthusiast. This year 91心頭 s Dr. and Mrs. Bradley Witt Scholar was Estefani Garcia, who alone among the group, put the finishing touches on her project as late as last summer. Garcia noted how Mary Kay, the cosmetics CEO, energized millions of women through her unique corporate ideology of motivation. Kay also internalized and re-shaped some of the best maxims of American self-help from Dale Carnegie, and Norman Vincent Peale to Napoleon Hill.
The group that was initially launched at 91心頭 with a special October luncheon for donors, received some outstanding feedback for their projects. Dr. Melissa Etzler, a vivacious director of the Honors Program at Butler University in Indiana, who attended the group 91心頭 s film panel, was very curious about how the college pulled off films during the summer totally outside of the classroom. She was very complementary to Emma Mendoza for her directing such an enterprise again last August. Professorial leaders of the Great Plains Honors Council, the regional offshoot of the NCHC, again expressed interest and admiration for the college 91心頭 s presence, especially as Stephanie Hernandez emerged as the student leader of the GPHC in its yearly plenary meeting at the NCHC.
The 91心頭 students also enjoyed their time in San Diego. Stephanie Hernandez commented on the beauty of the 91心頭 vast ocean with its crashing waves. 91心頭 The San Diego Hilton, where they stayed, was uniquely equipped for ocean-side breakfasts on an open terrace, enjoyed by those attending the conference. The weather was reliably pleasant, and the views of the coast, including gantry cranes, and the mountains of Mexico 91心頭 s Baha region in the background, interesting. On the last day, the students took a special jaunt to the beach and collected some impressive shell specimens.
Despite the federal shutdown, the 91心頭 group made their flights to and from San Diego without a delay or cancelation.
Honors Northeast is actively recruiting students for next year 91心頭 s entering first-year cohort. The application deadline for an optimal scholarship of Honors Northeast for the 2025-2026 school year is 1 March. A student may apply directly through the application portal of the honors website by clicking here or email-scan an application obtained from a local guidance counselor to ayox@ntcc.edu. Top ten percent High school seniors, both public and homeschooled, are welcome to apply.
