For the third time, the scholars of Honors Northeast have won two of the six Boe Awards conferred by Great Plains Honors Council (GPHC) in its yearly meeting held at Oklahoma State University.† The GPHC is an association of 80 honors colleges, and programs from the Midwest down to Texas.
Boe awards are bestowed each spring to the six most compelling and creative student works of scholarship submitted to Council judges.†There are three awards for the junior-senior division, and three for freshman-sophomore division.†Although NTCC won two of the six in 2008 and 2010, this is the first time that an NTCC sophomore, Brenda Godoy, entered and was awarded in the junior-senior division.
Godoy?s work concerned the ?Shift Trauma? experienced by leaders of the Texas Revolution.†In an essay developed through her presentations at the Webb meeting in Houston last spring, and the East Texas Historical Association meeting in Galveston last fall, Godoy reassessed the notables of the Texas Revolution. She argues that Texas rebels lacked long-term leadership profiles. Their ?situational rÈsumÈs? set them up for momentary ?reigns of fame,? and traumatic downfalls.
Hannah Dickson?s winning essay in the freshman-sophomore division was also notably bold and well-documented.† She showed that many scholars have maintained arguments about the utility or ubiquity of music in human society.† But there are now reasons to uphold the proposition that music is a human need, an entrenched aspect of human survival.
?Brenda and Hannah remind us how fortunate we are in Northeast Texas, to matriculate such hard-working, creative students, willing to enter new frontiers, and take scholarly risks.† It was thrilling to see them emerge on top among the already competitive honors students of a regional council,? Dr. Andrew Yox, Honors Director, noted.
Honors Northeast also featured its own highest number of students ever to win invitations to the annual conference.† Thirteen Presidential and Honors Scholars presented posters or essays.†In addition to Dickson?s and Godoy?s featured oral presentations, Alicia Cantrell and Warren Wu joined students of other colleges for panel presentations.†Cantrell presented a comparison of Jeannette Rankin with Hillary Clinton, and Wu presented segments of the new Honors/Webb film on Mary Kay.
Four students represented NTCC in the competitive poster division.† They included Matthew Chambers for the Humanities, Chesney Davis for the STEM fields, GPHC Student Representative, Rachel Jordan, in the Behavioral Sciences, and Morgan Martin for the Professional fields.
Other NTCC scholars who presented their own works included Caldwell winners Rhylie Anderson, and Jazmin Garcia, Chitsey-Award winner, Madison Blood, Cypress Bank Scholar, Jordan Whelchel, and Cassidy Watkins. NTCC?s presence at Oklahoma State was further enhanced by sophomore Rachel Jordan?s role at the Conference.† As the one elected student board member of the universities and colleges present, she represented student interests in meetings of the GPHC Executive Council, and Plenary Council.
