By: Dr. Andrew Yox, Honors Director
Hilda Rodriguez was recently named the winner of the 2021 Chitsey Award, granted each year to the student of Honors Northeast who after their first semester, most exceeded expectations. The award comes with a $200 check.
The 2020 graduate of Mount Pleasant High School impressed her professors in his first semester at NTCC as courteous, attentive and highly attuned to class objectives. Rodriguez was also a winner of a $200 poetry award last fall. Her work on Mexican immigration helped complete three scenes of the film on Bo Pilgrim premiering on 26 March at NTCC.
The Chitsey Award has had a remarkably stimulating effect on other down-the-line student awards at NTCC through the years. Previous winners: Stephen Milburn (2013), Kelli Knepp (2014), Morgan Capps (2015), William Jones (2016), Cassidy Watkins (2017), Madison Blood (2018), and Daniel Landaverde (2019) have all moved on from the Chitsey to regional or national awards such as the Jack Kent Cooke, Leaders of Promise, and/or the Coca Cola Scholarships. Last year’s winner, Jalyn English has won both a Texas Star Award, and the premiere James and Elizabeth Whatley Scholarship for $2,500.
Honors Director, Dr. Andrew Yox notes: “in her first semester, Hilda outperformed several valedictorians and salutatorians we have had through the years. She is a true rising star, promoted after one semester by the NTCC honors committee, and already, a major contributor to our cultural life here at NTCC.”
The award also honors a former patron of Honors Northeast, Elizabeth Chitsey (1918-2013). The Winnsboro-native had children and grandchildren who have served in the teaching profession in Northeast Texas, on every level, from pre-school, to college. Each year since 2012, her family has generously supported this award and other social functions of Honors Northeast.
Hilda is the daughter of Sabino and Hilda Rodriguez of Mount Pleasant.
