It’s time to put on your best Halloween costume, dust off your trick-or-treat basket and head out to Northeast Texas Community College for the 33rd Annual Scare Affair.

The event is from 6:00 pm until 9:00 pm on Saturday, Oct. 23, on the plaza of the main NTCC campus on FM 1735 near Chapel Hill ISD. There will be free candy for all trick-or-treaters, low-cost games for all ages, a costume contest with cash prizes, and more! 

“After having to cancel last year due to COVID, we are pleased once again to host our biggest community event of the year. We hope everyone will come out and join us for an evening of safe, affordable fun for the whole family,” Kaymon Farmer, Director of Student Development and Inclusion, said.

In addition to past favorites like the cakewalk and a hayride, Scare Affair will also feature laser tag, a giant slide, rock wall, bounce houses, face and hair painting, tons of games, and great food.

Registration for the costume contest will be a come-and-go from 6:30–7:30 pm in the Student Union Building (SUB). There will be two categories – one for adults and one for kids ages ten and younger. We will post the top five finalists in the SUB at 8:00 pm and announce the winners at 8:30 pm, and prizes are $100 for first place and $50 for second place in both age groups.

For more information about Scare Affair, visit www.scareaffair.com or contact Farmer at 903-434-8265 or [email protected]. 

NTCC Honors Program

The Northeast Texas Community College Honors Program is pleased to announce its Honors Students for the 2021-2022 school year. It includes eight Presidential Scholars and 13 Honors Scholars.

College trustees, administrators, and faculty established Honors Northeast in the spring of 2007. Although Northeast gears to attract top high school graduates and college students, the program has flourished thanks to a network of loyal supporters in and out of the college. Each year, NTCC honors students have attended and presented research at the Walter Webb Society of Texas (WWS), the Great Plains Honors Council (GPHC), and the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC).

As listed on the Wall of Honor Page of the NTCC honors website, NTCC honors students have won 28 State of Texas Caldwell Awards. In addition, there are ten Boe Awards of the Great Plains Honors Council, seven Britt Poster Awards of the GPHC, and on the national level, twenty Leaders of Promise, 17 Coca Cola Awards, three Hites Awards, two Pearsons, seven Guistwhite Awards, and ten exclusive Jack Kent Cooke scholarships.

NTCC Scholars also have published 22 essays in refereed scholarly journals since 2009. In addition, they have presented segments of six feature-length films at national meetings of the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC), the only honors program in the nation to feature a collaborative, creative project of this nature, every year from 2013 to 2018, and now also in 2020 and 2021. 

Presidential Scholars are the top scholarship winners who usually receive enough to pay for tuition, books, and fees. Honors Scholars receive lesser amounts, but rank can be misleading as the second tier includes students whose rise to distinction might be both recent and rapid. Also, 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 NTCC Honors activities and seminars.

The NTCC Honors Committee selects students based on academic performance, a personal essay, and letters of recommendation. The program has averaged nine student trips a year. Since its beginning, generous community sponsors have financed free trips in the spring and fall, amenities, and unique award opportunities.

“Our student body at NTCC is diverse, and the range of talents, impressive,” notes Dr. Andrew Yox, Honors Director. “The honors program scholars are not necessarily the smartest students, but they are the creative vanguard –publishing essays, winning poetry and poster contests, featuring their films, appearing on the radio and making honors and professional presentations each year. In addition, 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 NTCC, Honors and Presidential Scholars will enroll in three, six-to-seven-hour seminars during their two-year stay at NTCC. In addition, all honors students participate in the fall Northeast Texas Poetry contest, the spring McGraw Hill Poster contest and submit abstracts and papers for the primary state, regional and national presentations, awards, and publications.

The list of 2021-22 NTCC Scholars are as follows:

Presidential Scholars

Aaliyah Avellaneda is our 2021-22 Dr. Jerry Wesson Scholar for having won both Eckman Awards in her freshman year and becoming our top academic sophomore in honors. In addition, she won both a first-in-the-state Caldwell Award and a Britt Poster Award (one of three freshman sophomores of our region from Nebraska to Texas. Her work on “Texas Ticketsplitter,” Bill Ratliff, has recently been accepted for publication by Touchstone, the collegiate journal of the Texas State Historical Association. She also will be presenting this work at the coming meeting of the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC) in Orlando.

Victor Diaz is a 2021 graduate of Mount Pleasant High School, where he was a member of the National Honor Society (NHS) and an award-winning participant in the Color Guard. In addition, he won the highest grades in AP Spanish and made a series of award-winning Spanish language videos. Victor currently is the producer of NTCC’s Carroll Shelby film, developing the work’s trailer. He will be presenting his film work at the state meeting of the Walter Webb Society this fall. 

Dorali Hernandez won a fourth-place State of Texas Caldwell Award for her pioneering work interviewing nurses: “The Progression of Medical Maintenance: The Story of Two Texas Nurses 1980-2000.” She presented this work at the Great Plains Honors Council and will offer a version of this work at the East Texas Historical Association (ETHA) this October. In addition, her work’s publication is with Touchstone.

Jessie Parchman is the first NTCC honors student to be simultaneously a senior in a public school—in this case, Chapel Hill. She is also the first high school senior we know of to present at a professional conference. This October, her paper about a sudden medical dependence surge in the 1970s was in the program of the ETHA. She made fourth in the Future Health Professionals (HOSA) competition for Community Awareness and has won numerous other UIL medals. In addition, she has conducted numerous scientific experiments relating to health, toxicity, and pollution for these awards as a hobby.

Israel Perez is the premier winner of the Russell-Mowery Perpetual Honors Scholarship for significant contributions to Northeast Texas culture and life. He was the 2021 film scholar for the Webb-Award-winning work on Bo Pilgrim and played the role of Lee Iacocca in the upcoming film on Carroll Shelby. In addition, Israel will be the first person in the history of the college, and perhaps in the state, to publish an article in the Texas Handbook, the leading resource for Texas history. Finally, he will be presenting his work on Bo Pilgrim and the Protestant Ethic at the NCHC.

Hilda Rodriguez won the $200, 2021 Elizabeth Chitsey Award for the honors student who most exceeded expectations. Rodriguez was also a winner of a $200 poetry award last fall. Her work on Mexican immigration helped complete three scenes of the Webb-Honors film on Bo Pilgrim. She will present work on domestic isolationism and the case of Esmeralda, a working-class Hispanic immigrant to Northeast Texas, at the NCHC.

John Rodriguez: is our 2021-2022 Texas Heritage National Bank Scholar and president of the Honors Student Council. In the 2021 McGraw Hill Poster contest, he came in fourth and presented at the Great Plains Honors Council and Walter Webb Society. The journal, Touchstone, has accepted his essay for publication. He made substantial contributions in both acting and research to two honors films, Pilgrim and Carroll Shelby. Rodriguez will present his award-winning work on Hispanic Quietism in Texas at the NCHC.

Evan Sears is a 2021 graduate of Mount Vernon High School who excelled in dual enrollment courses and was a member of NHS. Last summer, he became the film scholar of NTCC’s Carroll Shelby film. Evan will present some of this work at the fall meeting of the Walter Webb Society in Nacogdoches. In addition, he tied for fourth for his poem about the Texas Cowboy in the 2021 Northeast Texas Poetry Contest and won second place for his image of his grandfather baling hay.

Honors Scholars

Cade Bennett is the Region III Vice President of Phi Theta Kappa in Texas. Our Cypress Bank Scholar in 2020-21 is our current Gladys Winkle Scholar, as the lead Humanities major in honors. Bennett plays the starring role in our 2021 Webb-award-winning film on Bo Pilgrim and our forthcoming 2022 film on Carroll Shelby. In addition, he will be featuring his McGraw-Hill, Award-winning work on Texas-style capitalism and innovation in the cases of Denton Cooley, Charles Mitchell, and Jack Kilby at the NCHC.

Daphne Bogenschutz is a 2021 White Oak High School graduate and a pitcher in NTCC’s softball team, a member of NHS, the Student Council, and the debate team. In high school, besides softball, she competed in varsity volleyball and powerlifting.

Justin Brantley: is a 2021 graduate of Pittsburg High School, where he participated in the school’s yearbook staff and helped lead a community Veteran’s Day program. In addition, he produced an audio-visual presentation of the event.

Jordan Chapin moved with her family recently to Winnsboro from the state of Washington. She was a member of the NHS, the Beta Club, and DECA. Her image of rays breaking through the clouds won third place in the recent Northeast Texas image competition. A talented actress, she played the role of Carroll Shelby’s second wife, Jan Harrison. She will be presenting work on the film at the fall meeting of the Walter Webb Society in Nacogdoches.

James Dickson presented his pioneering work on NTCC’s own Tom Seabourne at the 2021 Great Plains Honors Council. He received homeschooling in Pittsburg.

Maiko Estrada is a 2021 graduate of Mount Pleasant High School. He was a member of HOSA, the band, and NHS. He recently became the college’s 14th Cypress Bank Scholar and participated extensively in the college’s tenth feature-length film on Carroll Shelby.

Skylar Fondren was homeschooled in Pittsburg and is interested in journalism. She is a 2021 Leader of Promise winner, a preeminent award granted nationally by Coca-Cola and Phi Theta Kappa. Skylar played several roles including cinematographer, and assistant director in the Shelby film, and helped write an initial press release. She will help present the film at the fall meeting of the Walter Webb Society this fall in Nacogdoches. In addition, her poem, “Hidden Gems of Northeast Texas,” won third place in the 2021 Northeast Texas Poetry contest.

Ruben Guerrero: is a 2021 graduate of Pittsburg High School, where he was on the Student Council, UIL Speech and Debate, and the NHS. He served as a cinematographer in the coming Shelby film and played the role of Shelby’s heart surgeon and supporter, Roy Cherryhomes. He will help present aspects of the movie at the state meeting of the Walter Webb Society this fall.

Raul Leija is a 2021 graduate of Mount Vernon High School, where he was a member of the National Honors Society, the Spanish Club, HOSA, and the Rotary Club. He acted and worked last summer on behalf of the Carroll Shelby film.

Amy Lopez is a 2021 graduate of Mount Vernon High School, where she was a member of NHS, the Book Club, Interact, and the Spanish Club. In addition, she won a Rotary Scholarship.

Daisy Quinones is a 2021 graduate of Mount Pleasant High School. She participated in AP with WE, a unique service-learning program that connected high-performance Spanish language skills with school improvement.

Brian Ramirez is the 2021-22 president of Alpha Mu Chi (NTCC chapter of Phi Theta Kappa) and the 2021 film director of the Carroll Shelby film. He is the first person in the history of honors to win back-to-back first-place awards at our regional honors competitions, first with the 2021 McGraw-Hill Poster Contest and then with the 2021 Northeast Texas Poetry Contest. Brian is also the winner of the Dr. Charles B. Florio Award for leadership while at NTCC. He will present work on the “Mozart Hypothesis,” relating to his extensive film work while at NTCC at the coming meeting of the NCHC.

Maxime Risner is our current NTCC Student Government Association President. She won a third-place Caldwell Award in her freshman year and came in second twice, both for the 2021 McGraw Hill Poster Contest and in the 2021 Northeast Texas Poetry Contest, with a work entitled, “Foreign Land,” about her first encounter with Northeast Texas. During our COVID summer of 2020, her efforts with cinematography and acting filled in crucial gaps in the profile of needs connected with the Bo Pilgrim film. She will present her award-winning work on the decline of rural veterinarians in Orlando at the NCHC.