By: Dr. Andrew Yox, Honors Director
Neida Janet Perez, the James and Elizabeth Whatley Scholar of NTCC, has just won the student election of the Great Plains Honors Council (GPHC). In a general email to the institutional members, GPHC secretary Ebonie Hill of Oklahoma State communicated the results last Monday. Perez defeated an upperclassman from Midwestern State University for the top honor. She will be the one student from eighty honors programs and colleges, from Nebraska to Texas, to join the other professorial members of the GPHC Executive Council, starting this November.
“Perez has an amazing résumé,” notes Dr. Andrew Yox, NTCC honors director, “and in a far-flung e-election involving honors professors and deans, a terse rendition of scholarly attainments matters a great deal. Though Perez’s male opponent had a published paper, Perez’s essay has been accepted for publication. Her scholarship on Texas’ microbe problem won a second-in-the-state Caldwell Award last spring in El Paso in the university division. She has also won two $100 Eckman Awards for highest GPAs in honors seminars, and a $200 Florio Award for academic leadership. She will be presenting shortly at the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC), the national umbrella association of honors programs and colleges that includes the GPHC.”
The Great Plains Honors Council has operated since 1975. Each year since 2008, NTCC scholars have presented at its annual spring conference. Last year in Wichita Falls, Perez gained her first live exposure to GPHC members by presenting her successful work on antigens.
Neida is the daughter of Luciano and Ana Perez of Titus County. She was a 2022 graduate of Mount Pleasant High School.
