Kara Bailey is a graduate of Paul Pewitt High School. She made varsity band for five years, theatre troupes for two years, and was an active member of the student council.
Remington Covey developed the work, “Agitators of Divergence,” a study of polarization in American politics at NTCC in 2023, and presented this study for a luncheon of administrators and NTCC patrons this fall. He also gained entry for this work at the NCHC, and presented his poster on this topic in Kansas City this past 1 November. He also participated in the NTCC film last summer and plays the role of Texas Senator Ralph Yarborough in the upcoming film.
Sarah Dierflinger placed fourth in the 2024 McGraw Hill Poster Contest for her work on how students at college choose what classes to take. She served as unit production director of the 2024 film on oil and politics. Last summer, she won a Texas Star Award from the Texas Phi Theta Kappa for her accolades, and work with PTK and other organizations on campus. She is a mother of three, an experienced chicken farmer, and an expert of the Hebrew backdrop to the New Testament.
Estefani Garcia is a 2024 graduate of Mount Pleasant Highschool. At Mount Pleasant, she was a vice president of the student council and a member of Future Business Leaders of America, the NHS, the NTHS, and HOSA. She participated in Upward Bound, NTCC’s Phi Theta Kappa, and played on the soccer team. She won the 2024 Northeast Texas Image contest with her photograph of a rural field of bluebonnets.
Yahir Garcia is a 2024 graduate of Mount Pleasant High School, and the Cypress Bank Scholar of Honors Northeast 2024-25. At Mount Pleasant he participated in UIL Social Studies. A computer major who received a new laptop from Cypress Bank, he is the current producer of the Honors Northeast film on oil and politics. He placed fourth and earned $100 in the 2024 Northeast Texas Poetry Contest for his poem on the “Wild Wind.”
Kaden Groda has been a very active participant of NTCC honors films, playing important roles, such as that of James Stevenson, the traveling preacher in 2023, and Clint Murchison, the Texas oil man in 2024. He also placed third in the 2024 Northeast Texas Poetry competition with his poem, “Whispers of East Texas.” He was a 2023 graduate of Chapel Hill High School.
Emily Hamlin was homeschooled. In her first year at NTCC she was a member of Phi Theta Kappa, a secretary of the NTCC business club, an Eagle newspaper photographer, and a CYRA rodeo photographer. This year, elected to honors, she won first place in the 2024 Northeast Texas Poetry Contest, and placed second in the Image Contest. An entrepreneurial photographer, she served last summer as one of the best cinematographers in the history of the honors film series at NTCC.
Andrew Higgins is a 2024 graduate of Mount Vernon High School. He was a top scorer in UIL math and science competitions, and the vice president of NHS. He has been a member of the Civil Air Patrol for four years and has attained the rank of captain. He has won several awards in agricultural mechanics as a member of Future Farmers of America. In 2023, though still in high school, he came in first in NTCC’s Bonnie Spencer competition for his essay on America in world affairs after the Spanish-American War.
Skylar Hodson is the Russell Mowery Scholar of NTCC and the Dr. Mary Hood Scholar of Texas. She is the Director of the program’s current film, and has presented work relating to her role both in Kansas City at the NCHC and in Mount Pleasant. She was the star of the program’s film on Minnie Fisher Cunningham and the Texas Suffragettes. Hodson won a second-in-the-state Caldwell Award in the upper division last year in College Station for her work on the history of Texas Cinema. She also came in first at the Red River Symposium for this work, and second in the McGraw Hill Poster Contest. Her work most recently won a Portia Gordon Award of the East Texas Historical Association.
Araceli Landaverde is a 2024 graduate of Mount Pleasant High School. She won an honors blanket in education, and was the president of the Texas Association of Future Educators at MPHS. She was a member of the NHS, and the NTHS. She qualified for the regional powerlifting meet in 2022, 2023 and 2024, and the state meet in 2023 and 2024. She won a Texas High School Women’s Powerlifting Association Scholarship, and recently an award in the Northeast Texas Image Contest.
Hailey Maiville is a 2024 graduate of Paul Pewitt High School. She was an officer in the NHS, a member of the student council, and she chaired the flute section of the band.
Natalie Morrison is a 2024 graduate of Vidor High School, six miles east of Beaumont, Texas. She is a starting pitcher of the Lady Eagles softball team. She was a member of the NHS, and a captain of Vidor’s women basketball, and volleyball teams. Though a pitcher, she was also the top hitter of the softball team.
Rebeca Martinez is a 2024 graduate of Mount Pleasant High School. She was a member of the soccer team and NHS. She is a very talented artist. Last summer she accepted an invitation to perform research at the Dolph Briscoe Center in Austin on Texas political leader, Lena Guerrero.
Michelle Mejia was the 2023 salutatorian of Como-Pickton High School. She was a junior-class officer, a member of the NHS, a member of the track team, and a participant in UIL. At NTCC she made the first certified sighting of tardigrades in Hopkins County.
Jeisy Munoz is a 2024 graduate of Mount Pleasant High School. She was a member of the National Honors Society (NHS), and UIL math and social science teams. She played four years of soccer at MPHS, and received the highest academic achievement award for Spanish in 2021.
Andrew Perez is a 2024 graduate of Mount Pleasant High School. He was a member of NHS, NTHS, the MPHS band, and the MPHS track team. He acts the part of Governor James Allred in the upcoming honors film, and helped present the trailer of the film at the recent meeting of the Walter Prescott Webb Society in San Antonio.
Andrianna Price is a 2024 graduate of Mount Pleasant High School. She was an officer both of the National Technical Honor Society and Future Health Professionals (HOSA). She was also a Tiger Doll manager for two years, and a member of the Student Council.
Monserrat Rivero-Sanchez is the Dr. Jerry Wesson Scholar of Honors Northeast. Last spring, she won an international office, the Division II Vice Presidency of Phi Theta Kappa, after serving as the Vice President of the Texas branch of Phi Theta Kappa. As a PTK leader Rivero has traveled extensively through the United States and addressed thousands of students. Rivero has also played major roles in the programs’ films, on the Texas suffragettes, and traveling preachers of early Texas. She presented work on this subject at the recent meeting of the National Collegiate Honors Council in Kansas City. She was a graduate of MPHS.
Madeline Simmons is a talented actor and singer from Mount Pleasant High School. She played the role of Opal Yarborough in the honors film this past summer. She sings at local venues and has gained a local following demonstrating outstanding breath control, pitch, and range.
Ariana Tagg was homeschooled. She has extensive experience teaching Tae Kwon Do, and Jiu Jitsu after having attained advanced belts in both. Last summer she accepted an invitation to perform research at the Dolph Briscoe Center in Austin on Rita Clements, the wife of Texas Governor Bill Clements in the 1980s. She both plays the role of Rita Clements in the upcoming honors film, and has advanced her research on this figure, winning a 2024 Cunningham Conceptualization award. She presented her work on Rita Clements at the 2024 meeting of the Walter Prescott Webb Association at San Antonio.
Amy Vazquez was a top 2023 graduate of Mount Pleasant High School. She was a member of the National Hispanic Recognition Program, and the National Rural Area Recognition Program. She hopes to be a registered nurse.
Avery Woods was homeschooled. Last year at NTCC she developed a project on revolutionary negativity in the triggering images of revolutionary images which won acceptance into the meeting of the NCHC. She presented that work in the form of a poster this November in Kansas City. For her excellent work on this topic and inclusion of the Texas Revolution into her study, she became the third Dr. Bradley Witt Scholar of Honors Northeast. Last summer, she participated in the program’s film research at the Dolph Briscoe Center in Austin. She also participates in the Civil Air Patrol.
Shpat Zeqaj is a 2024 graduate of Mount Pleasant High School. At MPHS, he was a member of the marching band, NHS, the National Technical Honor Society FBLA and HOSA.
