By: Dr. Andrew Yox, Honors Director
Jaidyn Taylor Thompson, of Jenkins in Morris County has become the 2020 Texas Heritage National Bank (THNB) Scholar of NTCC. Chairman of the Board of THNB, John Bryan, made this official, 27 August. This $4,000 scholarship goes to a top Presidential Scholar of the NTCC Honors Program. Thompson, will inherit this prestigious designation from other previous vanguard students of NTCC: Mercedes Collins, now at Grand Canyon University in Arizona; Jordan Whelchel, now at Rice University; Cassidy Watkins, now working at the San Marcos Treatment Center, and Emmalea Shaw, now working toward her doctorate in physical therapy at the North Texas State medical campus in Fort Worth.
Thompson attained an excellent record in one year at NTCC. She recently joined 200 other students from around the nation as a winner of the Leaders of Promise award, sponsored by Phi Theta Kappa, and Coca Cola. Last fall, she pursued a number of interviews that culminated in a long talk with a leading trial lawyer of the state, Harold Nix. She utilized that experience to assess the functions of lawyers in rural Texas. She presented this scholarship last February in Austin as part of the meeting of the Texas State Historical Association. Her work also was accepted for inclusion in the program of NCHC20, a virtual conference sponsored this fall by the National Collegiate Honors Council.
Texas Heritage National Bank traces a lineage back to 1889 when it was called the Bank of Daingerfield. THNB has branches in Daingerfield, Omaha, Ore City, and Sulphur Springs. This is the fifth year that the bank has sponsored this most generous Presidential Scholarship at the college.
Jaidyn is the daughter of Rev. Chad and Susan Thompson. NTCC Honors Director, Dr. Andrew Yox notes that “Thompson’s scholarly work represents a definitive treatment of Harold Nix that accounts for his place and prominence in Morris County. We are thrilled that THNB could grant this special honor to her.”
