By: Dr. Andrew Yox, Honors Director
Because of his combination of academic excellence, leadership, and public service, Brian Ramirez of Mount Pleasant has become the second winner of the James and Elizabeth Whatley Honors Endowed Scholarship. This $2,500 scholarship, to be applied to the coming academic year at NTCC, and available for distinguished NTCC honors sophomores in the years to come, is the result of a $50,000 gift given to Honors Northeast, the college’s honors program, when it started in 2007. Elizabeth Whatley (1927-2016) at that time gave a record-breaking 1.7 million dollars, one of the largest known gifts to a rural community college. She and her husband, James, gave over 2.6 million dollars to NTCC between the years, 1985 and 2016.
The second winner of the Whatley has compiled an enviable record at NTCC. In the spring of 2021 he placed first in the McGraw Hill Poster contest for his conceptualization of filming in honors and Phi Theta Kappa. He was the producer of last year’s Webb-Chapter-Award-winning film on Bo Pilgrim, a Friend-of-Texas-PTK-award-winning documentary on sightlessness, and is the director of this year’s film on Carroll Shelby by Honors Northeast. The president of Alpha Mu Chi at NTCC, and an SGA officer, Ramirez will appear this fall at the meeting of the National Collegiate Honors Council, a conference dominated by university upperclassmen from around the nation. He will discuss ways in which students of higher education can contribute directly to regional culture.
Honors Director, Dr. Andrew P. Yox notes, “Brian has an amazing, intuitive sense, when he walks into a film set, of who needs to do what, and what needs to be where. But he also works very well with people in general, listening to their suggestions, and is a very conscientious worker. Above all, he is persuasive yet personable; aware of the big picture, and yet patient with details.”
Ramirez is the son of Carlos and Eunice Ramirez of Mount Pleasant
