Northeast Texas Community College recently awarded the second annual Bonnie Spencer Awards for excellence in historical research. The prize is awarded to students who write the top United States History papers for the school year. First place ($100) went to Alondra Ferretiz of Mount Pleasant and second place ($50) went to Sarah Craig of Hughes Springs.

NTCC is somewhat unique in that is requires all students to complete a research paper during their United States History course.

Honors Northeast hosted the ninth annual McGraw-Hill Poster Contest April 28 in the Whatley Center for the Performing Arts. Nearly 20 students competed in the event, where they presented posters summarizing their research on a wide variety of academic topics. William Jones, a sophomore Presidential Scholar from Mount Pleasant, won first place.

Texas Heritage National Bank recently presented the Northeast Texas Community College Foundation with $4,000 to sponsor a Presidential Scholar in Honors Northeast. The NTCC honors program was founded in 2007 and has attracted top high school graduates from around the region. Dr. Jonathan McCullough, NTCC Vice President for Advancement, (center) is pictured receiving the gift from John Bryan (left), Chairman of Texas Heritage National Bank and Dwyatt Bell (right), CEO of Texas Heritage National Bank.

Submitted by Honors Northeast:

Lone Star College in the greater Houston has over 90,000 students, and may be the eighth-largest institution of higher learning in the United States.† It has won three of the 105 prestigious Guistwhite Scholarships of Phi Theta Kappa that have been bestowed since the award?s website began recording this information in 2011.† Mesa Community College, a bellwether two-year institution in Arizona, has less students, but has gained four winners.

Thanks to a generous grant, creative conceptualizing, and a good amount of student-to-faculty interfacing, 12 members of Honors Northeast at Northeast Texas Community College won invitations to present work at the recent meeting of the Great Plains Honors Council (GPHC) at Lamar University in Beaumont.†The GPHC has functioned since 1975 as the regional arm of the National Collegiate Honors Council, joining university and college honors programs from Nebraska and Missouri to Texas.

Three NTCC scholars gave formal oral reports.†Cassidy Watkins, from Daingerfield, featured segments of

Northeast Texas Community College student, Cassidy Watkins, was recently named the winner of the 2016-2017 Chitsey Award, granted annually to the student of Honors Northeast who most exceeded expectations. Dr. Mary Hearron (right) recently presented Watkins with this $200 award.

Watkinswas the 2016 Salutatorian of Daingerfield High School.† She has excelled in her two honors seminars, and in her other NTCC classes to date.† She is also the producer of the 2017 Honors film on Sam Houston, and the exodus of the Texas Cherokee.

The ninth annual McGraw-Hill Poster Contest is set for Friday, April 28 at 9:30 a.m. in the foyer of the Whatley Center for the Performing Arts at Northeast Texas Community College. This contest recognizes and rewards creative student scholarship in Northeast Texas. Area high school seniors, college and university students are welcome to compete. Prizes range from $100 for fourth place to $400 for first place. Up to 20 community judges will determine a project?s contribution to scholarship, its persuasiveness and the quality of the poster?s overall appearance.

The 2017 issue of Touchstone, the collegiate journal of the Texas State Historical Association released this spring, contains a record three essays by current Northeast Texas Community College Presidential Scholars. All three were prize-winning works.†They included Emmalea Shaw?s Caldwell-Award-winning essay on integration in Northeast Texas, William Jones?

Emma Shaw, a sophomore at Northeast Texas Community College from Omaha, has been selected as one of only 15 students nationwide to be named a 2017 Phi Theta Kappa Guistwhite Scholar. The honor includes a $5,000 scholarship to be used toward baccalaureate studies and a commemorative medallion. Shaw will be honored with the other recipients on the main stage at Phi Theta Kappa?s national convention in Nashville this April

Guistwhite Scholars are chosen based on academic achievement, leadership accomplishments and engagement in Phi Theta Kappa Programs.

Ryan-Rose Mendoza, a sophomore at Northeast Texas Community College, has been named a 2017 Coca-Cola Community College Academic Team Silver Scholar. The Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation sponsors the Coca-Cola Community College Academic Team program by recognizing 50 Gold, 50 Silver and 50 Bronze Scholars, and providing nearly $200,000 in scholarships annually. Each Silver Scholar receives a $1,250 scholarship and a special medallion.

Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society administers the Coca-Cola Community College Academic Team Program.