By: Dr. Andrew Yox, Honors Director
Adam Richards was recently named the winner of the 2026 Elizabeth Chitsey Award, granted each year to the student of Honors Northeast who most exceeded expectations during their first year at NTCC. The award comes with a $200 check.
The 2025 graduate of Daingerfield High School has impressed all three of his first-year honors professors as incisive, willing to understand abstruse concepts, and creative as a writer. Richards began the year winning the Northeast Texas Poetry Contest, and he recently achieved a second-place Caldwell Award at the state level for his essay on French Empire architecture in Texas. As a member of a highly challenging spring honors seminar that combines General Chemistry II and Psychology, Richards’ drive to achieve has been marked by alacrity, and perseverance.
The Chitsey Award has had a remarkably stimulating effect on other down-the-line student awards at NTCC through the years. Previous winners: Stephen Milburn (2013), Kelli Knepp (2014), Morgan Capps (2015), William Jones (2016), Cassidy Watkins (2017), Madison Blood (2018), Daniel Landaverde (2019), Jalyn English (2020), Jordan Chapin (2022), Maddy Smith (2023), Alison Majors (2024), and Estefani Garcia (2025) have all moved on from the Chitsey to regional or national awards such as the Jack Kent Cooke, Leaders of Promise, and/or the Coca Cola Scholarships.
Honors Director, Dr. Andrew Yox notes: “I really thought that after the first decade of the Chitsey, such astounding honorary momentum, would have to come to an end. But both in 2024 and 2025, “something more” has continued to happen. Alison Majors, became a Coca Cola Leader of Promise, winning the $1,000 national award after obtaining the Chitsey. This last fall, Estefani Garcia won a regional $200 Portia Gordon Award after winning the Chitsey, in direct competition with university students.
The award also honors a former patron of Honors Northeast, Elizabeth Chitsey (1918-2013). 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 has generously supported Honors Northeast, and other functions of NTCC.
