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Honors Northeast, the ��ɫ����������ƵӰԺ Honors Program, is pleased to announce its Honors Students for the 2025-2026 school year. This includes seven Presidential Scholars and fifteen Honors Scholars.

The ��ɫ����������ƵӰԺ Board of Trustees established Honors Northeast in the spring of 2007. Geared to attract top high school graduates and college students, the program has received generous support from both outside donors, and a team of ��ɫ����������ƵӰԺ administrators and professors. Each year, ��ɫ����������ƵӰԺ honors students have presented research at the Walter Prescott Webb Society of Texas (WPWS), the Great Plains Honors Council (GPHC) and the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC).  As listed on the Wall-of-Honor Page of the ��ɫ����������ƵӰԺ honors website, ��ɫ����������ƵӰԺ honors students have won forty-one State of Texas Caldwell Awards, ten  Boe Awards of the Great Plains Honors Council, nine Britt Poster Awards of the GPHC, and on the national level, twenty-four Leaders of Promise, twenty-three Coca Cola Awards, five Hites Awards, two Pearsons, eight Guistwhite Awards, and eleven exclusive Jack Kent Cooke scholarships.  ��ɫ����������ƵӰԺ Scholars also have published thirty-one single-author essays and well as numerous other multi-author articles in refereed scholarly journals since 2009.  They have presented their film work at eleven General Panel Sessions of the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC), the only honors program in the nation to feature a collaborative, creative project of this magnitude so continuously in the last fifteen years.  

Presidential Scholars are usually the top scholarship winners. They usually receive enough to cover tuition, books and fees, with a stipend left to spare. Several receive both foundation and institutional scholarships.  Honors Scholars receive lesser amounts, but rank can be misleading. The rise to distinction among members of the Honors Scholar group can be both recent and rapid. As the Honors Committee has limited numbers of Presidential Scholarships to award, the timing of a student’s application makes a difference. But all scholars participate in all ��ɫ����������ƵӰԺ Honors activities and seminars. The ��ɫ����������ƵӰԺ Honors Committee selects students based on academic performance, a personal essay and letters of recommendation. The program now averages ten student trips a year. Since its beginning, community benefactors have financed free trips in the spring and fall, amenities, and special award opportunities.

“Our student body at ��ɫ����������ƵӰԺ is diverse, and the range of talents, impressive,” notes Dr. Andrew Yox, Honors Director.  “The twenty-two scholars of Honors Northeast are not necessarily the smartest students, or the fastest learners at the college.  But they are the creative vanguard of the college--publishing essays, dominating all college-wide poetry and poster contests, featuring their own feature-length films, appearing on the radio, and making honors and professional presentations each year. Because of the support they receive from donors, faculty and administration, our honors students are very competitive on the national level in terms of awards and scholarships.”

Aside from receiving a scholarship to attend ��ɫ����������ƵӰԺ, Honors and Presidential Scholars enroll in three, six-to-seven-hour seminars during their two-year stay at ��ɫ����������ƵӰԺ.  All honors students participate in the fall Northeast Texas Poetry contest, the spring McGraw Hill Poster contest, and submit abstracts, and papers for major state, regional and national presentations, awards and publications.

The list of 2025-26 ��ɫ����������ƵӰԺ Scholars are as follows:

Presidential Scholars

Estefani Garcia is the fourth Dr. and Mrs. Bradley Witt Scholar of ��ɫ����������ƵӰԺ, receiving special support for her trip to San Diego, as she was accepted last summer to present at the 2025 meeting of the NCHC this fall. Early last spring she won a state of Texas Caldwell Award for her work on Mary Kay. Later in the spring, she was the winner of the $200 Elizabeth Chitsey Award for the Honors Student who performed most above expectations. Recently she helped clinch ��ɫ����������ƵӰԺ’s Portia Gordon awards that were given to four of our panelists by the East Texas Historical Association (ETHA) with her work on Mary Kay as the “Queen of Motivation.”

Stephanie Hernandez is the 2025-26 Texas Heritage National Bank Scholar of Honors Northeast and ��ɫ����������ƵӰԺ’s nominee for student president of the GPHC. Hernandez has set an ��ɫ����������ƵӰԺ record for the most scholarly awards won by any student in the college’s history, and she has done this in two fields!—biology and history. Last spring, she won a first-in-the-state, university division Caldwell for her work on Tejano muralism.  This work has also brought her a Britt Award of the Great Plains Honors Council, and second-place awards at the Red River Symposium, and the McGraw Hill contest.  Recently she won the Portia Gordon Award of the East Texas Historical Association. Hernandez also won a first-place Red River Symposium Award for her work on parasitology study on the Black Buffalo Myxos. Last spring she was the winner of the $100 Eckman Award, having the highest GPA in the Chem-Psych Seminar.  Recently she has been the winner of a Texas Star Award, and a Northeast Texas Poetry Award.  

Andrew Higgins is the 2025-2026 James and Elizabeth Whatley Scholar of Honors Northeast.  He was the winner recently of the Portia Gordon Award for moderating the ��ɫ����������ƵӰԺ panel at the ETHA.  He has presented his work on space exploration and God in Kansas City at the GPHC, and at the Red River Symposium.  His work won admittance into the 2025 meeting of the NCHC.  At the end of fall 2024, he was the winner of the $100 Eckman Award for having the highest GPA in the HuMusic Honors Seminar. This last fall, his image of a tree canopy in Franklin county won second. Higgins has been involved this fall semester in one of the most rigorous initiatives ever undertaken by a member of ��ɫ����������ƵӰԺ’s Phi Theta Kappa (PTK).  He has conducted and filmed the bulk of the 40 interviews that will be featured as videos for ��ɫ����������ƵӰԺ’s 40th-year celebration.

Ian Mares is a 2025 graduate of Paul Pewitt High School.  At Pewitt, he was active in the National Honor Society (NHS), the Student Council, and the Fellowship of Christian athletes (FCA). He excelled in athletics, in club soccer, tennis and football. Last summer, Mares played the role of the San Antonio artist, Felipe Reyes, in the summer film project of Honors Northeast. He has reported on this experience, presenting at the fall meeting of the WPWS in Georgetown.

Hailey Randall is from the village of Poughquag in New York State.  In her youth, she learned how to play the trumpet, the piano, and the guitar—and took dance lessons.  She moved to Naples, Texas just after her junior year in High School, and worked last year both on her GED, and courses at ��ɫ����������ƵӰԺ in which she excelled.  She joined Phi Theta Kappa, and Sigma Kappa Delta. Last summer she became unit production director of the ��ɫ����������ƵӰԺ film effort, sequencing the filming. She has reported on this experience, presenting at the fall meeting of the WPWS in Georgetown. Randall aspires to become a lawyer. 

Adam Richards was born in Henderson, Nevada, where his family endured some harrowing experiences.  He came to Morris County in his junior year, and had to play a “big game of catching up.” At Daingerfield High School he participated in varsity tennis, math University Interscholastic League (UIL), science UIL, and one-act plays. Last summer he participated with the ��ɫ����������ƵӰԺ team that went to San Antonio for film research.  He won first place and $400 at the 2025 Northeast Texas Poetry Reading for his poem on the area’s semi-rural ambience. He aspires to be an architect.

Isabel Tresidder was homeschooled, and her family is from South Africa.  She accepted an invitation two summers ago to work at the LBJ presidential library in Austin, and then wrote much of the script of a film on oil and politics which went on to win a Webb Chapter Award.  She placed second in the 2024 Northeast Texas Poetry Contest with a work about feral hogs. She presented work which she performed on Lyndon Johnson at the fall 2024 meeting of the WPWS in San Antonio.  Last year she also pursued an independent study course with Dr. McAllister on parasites in rodents, and made a few presentations with this study. Last summer she was a Winner of a Texas Star Award of PTK, and a Leader of Promise.

Honors Scholars

Remington Covey was homeschooled. Last fall he presented a poster at the meeting of the NCHC in Kansas City on “Agitators of Divergence,” which evaluated the polarizing tendencies of Donald Trump in comparison with three other Presidents. Interested in international affairs, Covey participated last fall in a “Knowledge Café” organized by a Dutch Professor that included discussions between fifty students from three continents.  Covey has acted in both of the program’s recent feature-length films, appearing both as Ralph Yarborough, the Texas Senator, and Henry Cisneros, the celebrity San Antonio Mayor.

Xenia Esparza began at Tyler Junior College before transferring to ��ɫ����������ƵӰԺ. She has worked for some time as a veterinarian’s assistant, and has even journeyed on a missionary trip in which she performed veterinarian service.  She impressed English professor, Many Smith by compiling an excellent business plan for becoming a veterinarian herself.  This semester she won a special spot to carry on parasitological research with the biology department.

Bree Fite was the 2025 valedictorian of Union Hill High School. She was a member of Future Business Leaders of America, Future Farmers of America, One-Act Play, the National Honor Society and 4-H. Last summer she participated with the ��ɫ����������ƵӰԺ team that went to San Antonio for film research. Her math teacher noted that Fite “demonstrates a remarkable work ethic and commitment to excellence.”

José Fuentes is a 2024 graduate of Mount Pleasant High School (MPHS), and during his first year at ��ɫ����������ƵӰԺ he was a member of both Psi Beta, and Phi Theta Kappa.  He is now a regional vice president of PTK in Texas.  Last summer, he won a Texas Star Award of PTK. He also took the lead protagonist’s role in the honors’ film project, playing the role of Mel Casas, a San Antonio artist. He has reported on this experience, presenting at the fall meeting of the WPWS in Georgetown. This fall semester, he has been a founding member of a new ��ɫ����������ƵӰԺ club, Raíces and Alas, and is vice-president of ��ɫ����������ƵӰԺ’s honors student council.  

Yahir Garcia is the Russell Mowery Scholar of Honors Northeast for his contributions to regional culture. He is the associate producer of Crude Conquest: The Triumph of Big Oil in Texas 1930-1980, which won a Webb Chapter Award at the Spring Meeting of the Texas State Historical Association in Houston. He has won two poetry awards, both for the Northeast Texas Poetry Contest of 2024, and for 2025. He was the winner last summer of a Texas Star Award of PTK.  He also won a Portia Gordon Award at the ETHA for his article on toxicity and taxation in Texas—and student films. Garcia has presented segments of Crude Conquest at several venues including the Meeting of the WPWS in San Antonio in 2024, and the 2025 Meeting of the GPHC in Kansas City. He will be the student chair of the ��ɫ����������ƵӰԺ film panel in a General Session at the NCHC this November.  

Karen Hernandez is secretary/treasurer of the Honors Student Council, a rare attainment for a first-year student. She is a 2025 graduate of MPHS. At Mount Pleasant she was a member of NHS, NTHS, the student council, and served as an officer for HOSA. She was a valuable member of the Mount Pleasant Cross-Country team, and a three-time regional qualifier for power lifting. Her high school chemistry teacher wrote that she was impressed by Hernandez’s “grit, academic achievements, and wide-range of interests.”

Araceli Landaverde is the 2025-26 co-president of ��ɫ����������ƵӰԺ’s honors student council.  In her first semester after graduating from MPHS, she won an image award with a depiction of her family’s Ford hay baler against a beckoning twilight. In the spring of 2025, she won a state of Texas Caldwell Award for her essay on Mexican-American Catholicism in Mount Pleasant at the meeting of the Texas State Historical Association in Houston.  She has made four presentations of this work, including one at the Mount Pleasant Library. Recently she was the state winner of the Walter B. Cooper Award of Phi Theta Kappa.

Jasmine Landaverde is the 2025-26 Cypress Bank Scholar of Honors Northeast. She is also a 2025 graduate of MPHS.  There, she participated in the student council all four years, and was a member of NHS, NTHS, the Texas Association of Future Educators, Family, Career and Community Leaders of America, and the FCA, of which she was the student leader.  She won an academic blanket for instructional practices, and lettered all four years in power lifting. Her math teacher noted that Landaverde has impressed him for her “passion, kindness, gentleness, and dedication to her teammates and to academics.”

Rebeca Martinez was a 2024 graduate of Mount Pleasant High School. She was a member of the soccer team and NHS. She is a very talented artist. In the summer of 2024, she accepted an invitation to perform research at the Dolph Briscoe Center in Austin on Texas political leader, Lena Guerrero.  She subsequently presented work relating to this, twice, at the fall meeting of the WPWS in San Antonio, and at the spring meeting of the same association in Houston in the spring of 2025.

Emma Mendoza is the Gladys Winkle Scholar of Honors Northeast, the honors student with the best credentials as a Humanities major. Last spring, she won first-place in the McGraw Hill Poster Award for her sewing machine research and a Bonnie Spencer Award given to the three top essays in at ��ɫ����������ƵӰԺ in non-honors history classes.  Last summer, she won a Texas Star Award of PTK. She also became the director of the upcoming feature-length film on the dueling Mexican-American art associations of San Antonio. She participated in the research effort and will be part of our panel on films in San Diego at the NCHC.  Mendoza is also the local chapter president of Phi Theta Kappa.  She presented the film work this past month in Georgetown, Texas at the meeting of the WPWS. She is the 2025-2026 co-president of ��ɫ����������ƵӰԺ’s honors student council. 

Andrew Perez was a 2024 graduate of MPHS. In his first summer at ��ɫ����������ƵӰԺ, he acted the part of Governor James Allred in the Webb-Award winning film on oil and politics.  This past summer, he took part in another honors film as the premier San Antonio painter, Jesse Treviño.  Perez has presented twice at the meetings of the WPWS of Texas, first in the San Antonio meeting of 2024, and then at the Houston meeting of 2025. His image of a Lake Bob Sandlin sunset won first place in the image award competition of the Northeast Texas Poetry Reading earlier this fall.  

Manuel Ramirez is a 2025 graduate of MPHS.  He was a member of the NHS, the NTHS, and the Texas Alliance for Minorities in Engineering.  His math teacher described him as a “very self-motivated person.” His punctuality, willingness to learn from his mistakes, readiness to contribute, and quiet humility makes him a fine “role model” for his peers.

Araceli Solis is a 2025 graduate of MPHS.  She was a member of the NHS, thee NTHS, and Health Occupations Student of America (HOSA).  A high school instructor described her as an enthusiastic learner who supports others, and “brings positive energy into the classroom, daily.”

Levi Teague is a 2025 graduate of Como Pickton High School.  Already in his freshman year, Teague became the drum major of his school’s band, and the band went on attain high ratings. He performed a major project on the Agent Orange used in the Vietnam War, and his history professor noted that he combines a remarkable self-motivation with an ability to articulate abstruse concepts.

Johnathan Ventura is a 2025 graduate of MPHS.  He was a member of the NHS, and for an engineering class built a custom electric guitar. His teacher noted that at one point he made a decision that threw out months of work, but that the end product was still the most notable work of the class.  Ventura served as a most reliable cinematographer for the honors film last summer, and currently is the associate producer, editing the film.  He presented his trailer of the film at the fall WPWS at Georgetown.  He won second-place and $300 in the 2025 Northeast Texas poetry contest for his poem, “Community Park.”