Brenda Godoy recently became the second student in the history of Northeast Texas Community College to speak alongside professorial scholars at a meeting of a professional association. She appeared at the East Texas Historical Association on October 13 at Galveston, wedged between a prize-winning author who was a former journalist for the†Dallas Morning News and a professor at Blinn College. Godoy presented her paper on hierarchical instability during the Texas Revolution.
Godoy won enthusiastic applause as the youngest presenter of the conference, and as one whose novel conceptualizations created a new story out of an older narrative.† The chair of the panel, Dr. Gene Preuss, of the University of Houston, said Godoy?s essay was an example of ?great undergraduate work.?
?It was a pleasure to hear someone so young with so many interesting things to say,? Author Rusty Williams said.
A member of the audience, Lou Dean, a former docent at the†Star of the Republic Museum†at Washington on the Brazos, said she ?thoroughly enjoyed this special focus on the Revolution.?
Many have focused on the leaders of the Texas Revolution and their ?reign of fame.?† But Godoy addressed the overarching hierarchical instability of Texas? early years, a time when four notables committed suicide, including the last President of Texas, and the state?s most prominent early Senator.†† Godoy showed ?the shift trauma? that accompanied quick upsets in power, the situational rÈsumÈs that brought notables to the apex of power?but only for a while, and the ?status journey,? that invariably included more years out of power than in the limelight.
?Brenda has not only been brilliant but committed.† She presented this work in Beaumont last spring, worked more over the summer on it, and came up with a stellar essay that is all we hope for in honors here,? Dr. Andrew Yox, Honors Director, said.
Godoy is a sophomore Presidential Scholar, the Director of the recent Honors film on Mary Kay, a Phi Theta Kappa Vice President, and President of the Bio-Chemistry Society.† A 2016 Salutatorian from Mount Pleasant High School, she is the daughter of Policarpo and Esperanza Godoy.
