By: Dr. Andrew Yox, Honors Director
Maverick J. Jones, an NTCC sophomore who hopes to become a teacher in agriculture, became the premiere winner of the Zachary Richardson Award. As he developed his history essay over the course of this past spring semester, Jones decided to compose an article-length work of twelve pages on the significance of the tractor in American agriculture. For this added effort, he was the only non-honors student during the 2021 spring semester to receive the letter ‘H’ for a course, in addition to another exemplary grade. He also received a $50 award in the mail.
History Professor, Dr. Andrew Yox notes that Jones “leveraged not only his own considerable experience working in agriculture, and his studies at NTCC’s Agriculture program for his essay, but also an impressive amount of research utilizing the college’s JSTOR archive of published historical essays. His finished work, ‘From Horse to Deere’ showed how seminal the tractor has been for the agricultural revolution of the twentieth century, begetting other important developments with fertilizers, pesticides, watering systems, and GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms).”
The award is named after the first student at NTCC to have won a regional award for historical research. Zachary Richardson won a 2008 State of Texas Caldwell Award for his article on Texas Blues singers. He was the first of twenty-seven NTCC students who have subsequently have won these cash awards, financed initially as an endowment in 1974 by Texas oilman, Clifton Caldwell. Richardson, who now teaches at El Centro College in Dallas, has also remained in touch as an NTCC alumnus, judging the 2020 NTCC spring poster contest, and serving as a professional contact for Honors Northeast.
Jones resides in Gilmer, and showed marked improvement with his humanities courses during his two-year stay at NTCC. He is the son of Adam and Missy Jones.
