By: Dr. Andrew Yox, NTCC Honors Director
Both Dorali Lopez Hernandez and Hilda Rodriguez have had their challenges this past year. Both of their families have faced serious illnesses, and the death of a loved one. Both students elected to enter vigorous dual-programs at NTCC last fall in Honors and Pre-Nursing. Both faced daunting challenges in research—Hernandez, in attempting to write a fifteen-page history of nursing in modern Texas, and Rodriguez, in writing an essay equally as long on modern Mexican immigration.
But both emerged as fall showcases of achievement at NTCC. Both exhibited a level of academic excellence equivalent to the top-tier of the NTCC honors program. The Honors Committee of NTCC, therefore has recently promoted both to Presidential Scholar. With this, their institutional honors scholarship tripled, and their possibility of winning other amenities and awards greatly improved.
The Honors Program at NTCC is composed of two levels, Presidential Scholars, and Honors Scholars. The scholars of the former group are now generally winning either a regional or national accolade during their two-year stay at NTCC. The latter group, almost without exception, was composed of a very competitive group of rising scholars that made the accomplishment of Hernandez, and Rodriguez doubly singular.
Honors Director, Dr. Andrew Yox notes that witnessing “the high-level academic successes attained by Hernandez and Rodriguez last fall was like watching the 1969 New York Mets, a classic Cinderella tale. Their scores on biology tests, anatomy and physiology, lifespan and development, and honors history, just kept all coming in—perfect, or near perfect. Both of their research initiatives in the last one-fifth of the course broke into new terrain, and became revelatory stories that, I believe, are significant accomplishments and worthy of publication on a regional level.”
Dorali is the daughter of Mario and Amada Hernandez of Mount Pleasant. Hilda is the daughter of Sabino and Hilda Rodriguez of Mount Pleasant.
Applications to enroll in the coming 2021-22 school year of Honors Northeast are now available online at www.ntcc.edu/honorsOne may also address questions or obtain a real applications from Dr. Andrew Yox at ayox@ntcc.edu. The due date for honors scholarships is 1 March 2021.
