October 13, 2016
NTCC sophomore, Ryan Rose Mendoza, has won the premiere 2016†Dr. Jerry Wesson†Award.
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An anonymous donor, mindful of the recent successes of Alpha Mu Chi, and Honors Northeast, as well as the many contributions of Dr. Jerry Wesson to NTCC, has helped initiate this annual $200 award. This prize commemorates the leadership and initiative of Dr. Wesson, an award-winning educator, writer, and facilitator of educational opportunities here. Its purpose is to encourage a student at NTCC whose leadership and initiative in both Alpha Mu Chi, and Honors Northeast has significantly enhanced the educational experience of fellow classmates.
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Mendoza is currently the president of Alpha Mu Chi. This NTCC branch of Phi Theta Kappa has regularly won a disproportionate number of prestigious fall and spring national awards provided by Coca Cola and other grantors since 2013.† Mendoza ran for an international office of Phi Theta Kappa in her freshman year here.† She was instrumental in compiling the chapter?s scrapbook which won first-place last summer at the Texas Honors Institute at Stephen F. Austin University. She also recently placed among the nation?s top two-hundred community college sophomores, winning a Coca Cola†Leaders of Promise†Award.
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Mendoza is also one of the 25†select Scholars of Honors Northeast. NTCC honors students have won seven exclusive Jack Kent Cooke awards on the national level since 2010.† Mendoza has played a lead role in the recent cinematic effort of Honors Northeast to capture the story of the end of the Texas Cherokee and the transformation of Sam Houston.† She began research on the project last spring, continued the work in Austin in May, and served as Unit Production Director, responsible for sequencing the entire cinematic effort, as the group filmed in Nacogdoches last August.
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Dr. Wesson is the author of the definitive history of Northeast Texas Community College,†The Miracle on FM 1735.††He is an expert on the educational history of our area, and remains active as a speaker and Mount Pleasant Municipal Judge.
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Ryan is the daughter of Edwardo and Mary Lee Mendoza of Mount Pleasant.
