Pictured: Bree Fite, Emma Mendoza, Litzy Flores, and Adam Richards Outside the San Antonio Central Library
By: Dr. Andrew Yox, Honors Director
Stephanie Hernandez’s state Caldwell-Award winning essay on Tejano murals may not only result in a publication. The NTCC Presidential Scholar now awaiting her sophomore year may see her work one day as a cinematic premiere. This past May, four upcoming scholars of Honors Northeast—Bree Fite, Emma Mendoza, Litzy Flores, and Adam Richards, and Honors Director, Dr. Andrew Yox, journeyed to San Antonio for research on the Tejano mural culture of this historic Mexican American center of Texas. The group pursued research at the Central Library of San Antonio’s public system, designed in 1991 by the Mexican architect, Ricardo Legorreta.
If completed, the film on the public art of Mexican Americans in Texas
will be the fourteenth in a series of feature-length cinematic productions made from scratch by the members of Honors Northeast, and the NTCC chapter of the Walter P. Webb Society. The Webb Society, representing students bound for the Texas History honors seminar and other supporters in the community, in turn, is tied to State Webb Society which is the collegiate auxiliary of the Texas State Historical Association.
The group left NTCC at 4:30 a.m. on a Wednesday, 28 May, to gain three days of research at a library they could walk to from their stay at the historic Menger Hotel by the Alamo. Bree Fite and Emma Mendoza focused their research on the mural culture, in particular the work of muralist Xavier Gonzalez. Litzy Flores branched off to examine Selena Quintanilla, as there was a “Selena Craze” in the Tejano murals of Texas after 1995. Adam Richards, who is interested in pursuing architecture, focused on the architectural context of San Antonio.
Each of the researchers will be bringing many talents in addition to their film research to NTCC this fall. Bree Fite and Litzy Flores both graduated as valedictorians this spring, from Union Hill and Daingerfield high schools. Emma Mendoza entered honors just this spring, but made quite a splash, winning the 2025 McGraw Hill Poster contest with her work on the elusive time dividends of sewing machines. Mendoza, who will be returning as the Gladys Winkle Scholar of Honors Northeast, will also serve as the film director. Finally Adam Richards is one of the four entering Presidential Scholars of Honors Northeast, the top-tier vanguard of the program.
The film initiative is beholden again this year to many individuals. In particular, the continuing support of Jerald and Mary Lou Mowery of Mount Vernon, as well as the $10,000 contribution last summer by the family of David L. Stevenson in Longview have emboldened the NTCC team to maintain the film tradition. Recently, a committee of professors of the National Collegiate Honors Council also admitted the NTCC bid to present their film work this November in San Diego.
