Northeast Texas Community College student, Cassidy Watkins, was recently named the winner of the 2016-2017 Chitsey Award, granted annually to the student of Honors Northeast who most exceeded expectations. Dr. Mary Hearron (right) recently presented Watkins with this $200 award.
Watkinswas the 2016 Salutatorian of Daingerfield High School.† She has excelled in her two honors seminars, and in her other NTCC classes to date.† She is also the producer of the 2017 Honors film on Sam Houston, and the exodus of the Texas Cherokee. Watkins has featured the NTCC film in Fredericksburg, at the Whatley Center premiere in February, in Houston as a part of the Texas State Historical Association meeting (TSHA), and at Lamar University on a panel at the Great Plains Honors Council.† She authored the group report on the NTCC Walter Webb Chapter that was published in the spring 2017 edition of Touchstone, published by the TSHA.
Honors Northeast has awarded the Chitsey Award since 2013. Previous winners, Stephen Milburn (2013), Kelli Knepp (2014), Morgan Capps (2015) and William Jones (2016) have all moved on from the Chitsey to national and regional awards like the Jack Kent Cooke, Leaders of Promise, the Great Plains Honors Council Poster Award, and the Coca Cola Scholarships.†The award also honors a former patron of Honors Northeast, Elizabeth Chitsey, who passed away in 2013. The Winnsboro†native†had children and grandchildren who have served†in the teaching profession†in Northeast Texas, on every level, from pre-school to college. Each year since 2012, her family ? which includes daughter, Dr. Mary Hearron†?†and other donors, such as Don and Kathy Berthiaume, has generously supported this award and other social functions of Honors Northeast.
