Northeast†Texas Community College Honors scholars†walked away from the 2016 March meeting of the Webb auxiliary of the Texas State Historical Association with a total of five cash prizes - more than ever before in the history of NTCC.
The most unprecedented win was Presidential Scholar, Hector Zuniga?s first-place ($400) prize for his 15-page essay on former Texas Governor, William Hobby. Though NTCC?s Carlos Mendez, and Noah Griffin have won first place Caldwells before on the state level, Zuniga won in the senior division, among those with 60 hours or more. This pitted him against university juniors and seniors, many of whom were involved with capstone honors projects. Zuniga who used a special opportunity last May with the NTCC film project to research Hobby at the Dolph Briscoe Center in Austin, also played the role of William Hobby in the recent Webb Society/Honors film about the Fergusons. Zuniga was also the winner of the Academic Excellence citation for his performance last semester in the honors Biotex Seminar at NTCC.
"When they announced my name as the winner of the upper division, I was quite overwhelmed since I knew that nobody from NTCC had ever won that division. Nevertheless, I am very proud to have received such an important award for my paper and to represent NTCC and its honors program wherever I may go,?†Zuniga said.
Another unprecedented series of wins resulted from Presidential Scholar, Melody Mott?s work on Japanese-Texas relations. A novel work of scholarship, Mott used her family connections in Japan, and a remarkable domain of research to produce a pioneering essay.† Mott won not only a second-place Caldwell Award ($300) of the lower division, but a Smallwood Scholarship for $500. She is the first NTCC student in history to win this scholarship, which also resulted from the rave reviews generated by her work on Japanese-Texan relations.
Emmalea Shaw?s ?Blind to Brown:† Auto-Integration in Northeast Texas? won a Third-Place Caldwell in the lower division ($175). Shaw used oral interviews, including two with NTCC professor, Windell Doddy, to assess how schools in Northeast Texas adopted integration in the 1960s and 1970s. Shaw argued that sports inured Texans to end patterns of segregation.
The NTCC Webb Chapter also won a final $600 Group Caldwell award for their film on Ma and Pa Ferguson. The group Caldwell Award goes to the university or college chapter that produced the most significant project in Texas History. Though NTCC won this award in 2013 for its successful Caddo grant, this is the first time that the college has won the award for one of its films. Many honors students made this victory possible, the leaders being: Isaac Burris, Morgan Capps, Cruz Gallegos, Elizabeth Griffin, Nathan Johnson, William Jones, Laney Jordan, Cassia Rose, Jessica Velazquez and Zuniga.
The 2015 chapter report of NTCC?s Webb Society, authored by Laney Jordan, and Melody Mott, appeared for the first time in the state society?s journal.† William Jones, and Emmalea Shaw featured segments of the Ferguson film and commentary to the statewide audience at the Las Colinas meeting.† Gabriela Quezada, whose essay on† Texas Centennial was close to a prize, accepted the Caldwell Group Award at the meeting.
The NTCC group celebrate in Denton at the home of Jim and Karen Harmon, gracious patrons of Honors Northeast since 2009. To†learn more about Honors Northeast, visit ntcc.edu/honors.
