Pictured: Avellaneda with Dr. Jerry Wesson.
By: Dr. Andrew Yox, Honors Director
NTCC Presidential Scholar, Aaliyah Avellaneda, has won the fourth Dr. Jerry Wesson Scholarship, for academic excellence in honors. This year the award increased from $500 to $750. This honor was established in 2018 by Scott Wesson, a Senior Vice President of UDR, an owner of 50,000 exclusive apartment units throughout the United States. The award commemorates his father-- long-term NTCC Vice President, and supporter, Dr. Jerry Wesson.
Avellaneda is the undisputed academic leader of the sophomore honors contingent at NTCC, having won both $100-Eckman Awards, in the fall and spring of last year for the best seminar averages. She also has impressed many members of the local community and region with her scholarship. Last year, she won a $400, first-in-the-state Caldwell-Award for her work on former Texas Lieutenant Governor, Bill Ratliff, who she interviewed in Mount Pleasant. She then won a $100 Britt Award from the Great Plains Honors Council for her poster presentation on the “Texas Ticketsplitter.” She will present her work on Ratliff again, this October, at the meeting of the National Collegiate Honors Council in Orlando.
Honors Director, Dr. Andrew Yox notes that: “Avellaneda conducted what in my mind was the best student interview, ever, at NTCC. She is a relentless worker, and a creative conceptualizer. Her thrilling victories on the state and regional level in scholarship last year make her a key prospect for our prayers this year. I believe we will hear a lot more about her.”
Aaliyah is the daughter of Francisco and Blanca Avellaneda of Mount Pleasant.
The historical aspect of Avellaneda’s research and awards last year dovetail with the achievement of the educator whose eponymous award she received. Dr. Jerry Wesson published the definitive history of Northeast Texas Community College The Miracle on FM 1735, in 2013.
