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. Recently she won a Velazquez Award for her work on Bonnie and Clyde in Winnsboro.
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.” Recently, he edited the 2024 film of Honors Northeast, and won a 2025 Velazquez Award for the significant way he reconstituted the film at the production phase.
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.
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. Recently she won a 2025 Velazquez Award for her work on Hispanic Catholics in Mount Pleasant.
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.
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.
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.
