By: Dr. Andrew Yox, Honors Director
The annual spring meeting of the Walter Prescott Webb Society, the collegiate auxiliary of the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) met again in person this year, in Austin. At the end of the conference, on 29 February, Lisa Berg, the TSHA Director of Education presented the Caldwell Awards for essays achieving excellence in Texas history. Again, scholars from Honors Northeast, the honors program at Northeast Texas Community College, scored around the apex in the competition. Surprisingly, however, this year, it was not in the freshman/sophomore division where NTCC scholars excelled, but in the junior/senior, “university division”—including those scholars who had more than sixty hours of credit.
Jessie Parchman from Mount Pleasant won $300 and second in the state with her essay, “Sudden Surge: From Past-Aid to Future-Aid Healthcare in the Lone Star State.” Parchman argued that the 1970s became the seminal decade of medical modernization in Texas. Maiko Estrada, also from Mount Pleasant, placed third and won $175 in this same division with his essay, “The Well-Being Activist: Dr. James Henry “Red” Duke.” Estrada argued that the Texas TV personality and celebrity physician of the 1980s, Dr. Duke, represented an ideal interface between the public and the medical establishment, a model that health officials would be wise to consider today.
Honors Director, Dr. Andrew Yox, who was present at the meeting, noted that “both scholars not only received awards but provided lively, and even humorous presentations of their work. Both have received a good amount of mentoring not only with these history projects, but from science professors on NTCC’s faculty such as Dr. Drew Murphy, and Jim Ward who enhanced their interest in medicine. Estrada as our Cypress Bank Scholar, and Parchman as an international candidate in Phi Theta Kappa, have also received support from other parts of our NTCC success network. We are very thankful for the ardent work of these scholars and for the level of support they have been receiving from our NTCC community.”
Other NTCC Scholars also presented their Texas-history-themed essays at the AT&T Conference Center on the University of Texas campus where the conference occurred. This included Skylar Fondren on the emergence of news deserts, particularly in Northeast Texas; Evan Sears, on Carroll Shelby, Emissary of the Muscle Car; Raul Leija, who compared the results of the Spanish Flu in 1918 with COVID in 2020—in Dallas, and Jordan Chapin with her work on legendary housewives of Northeast Texas, 1990-2020. Andrea Reyes, PTK Mentor and Honors Coordinator, served as a consultant for several of the colorful virtual posters that the students made for their presentations.
On 10 March, Estrada, Chapin, Fondren, Leija and Sears will be presenting their work which also touches on local themes, at the Mount Pleasant library. Those interested in having a free lunch and hearing these scholars should email, Dr. Yox at ayox@ntcc.edu.
Jessie is the daughter of Jeff and Jamie Parchman. Maiko is the son of José and Maria Estrada.
