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By: Dr. Andrew Yox, Honors Director

For the ninth time since the awards began in 2015, an �������� scholar has won a $100 Britt Award of the Great Plains Honors Council.  Stephanie Hernandez, a first-year Presidential Scholar from Mount Pleasant, bested all other competitors in the humanities poster division for freshmen and sophomores at the meeting of the Great Plains Honors Council (GPHC).  The awards were announced at the closing banquet of the 7-9 March meeting in Denton, Texas. 

The GPHC is an association of eighty honors colleges and programs, at both the collegiate and university level, from Nebraska to Texas.  It is one of the six major geographical groupings to compose the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC).  Every honors program or college in the GPHC had the right to nominate two students to compete in the poster division.

Hernandez, the winner already this semester of a First-Place State Caldwell Award in Houston, came to the conference ready to articulate why her work on Tejano murals was significant.  Firstly, it was a pioneering work as the state does not yet have a general history of Hispanic murals upon which her work could have been based. Secondly, Hernandez presented a story that showed a significant cultural drift in the orientation of the murals.  Her phrase, from “protest to pride” evoked the thesis that connected the images and trajectory of her poster into a coherent whole.

Hernandez came to the conference with four other �������� scholars (pictured) who all presented work as well.  Mary Faith Wilson gave a very taut presentation on “Cowboy Conservation” in a panel devoted to developments in Texas.

Andrew Higgins, also presented in a panel his work on the significance of religion in the American push toward outer space.  In the Friday afternoon poster session, Sarah Dierflinger discussed the ways the town of Winnsboro has interpreted the story of their two outlaw visitors, Bonnie and Clyde, during their early 1930s crime spree. 

Yahir Garcia featured ��������’s current film, Crude Conquest: The Triumph of Big Oil in Texas Politics 1935-1980, about to be premiered on the �������� campus, 28 March, in a Saturday-morning panel.  He gave the story of how students of the honors program did the research, created the story, and then filmed their script of Big Oil and Texas politics last summer.   

 The GPHC conference also featured excursions where students could meet their peers from other colleges and universities, and explore facets of culture in the Dallas area.  The �������� team went to the Meow Wolf, an immersive art experience at the Grapevine Mills Mall.  In the Meow Wolf, it is difficult to say where one is, as going down a washing machine can lead to a novel chamber of brightly painted colors and eerie music, which in turn leads to another room, similarly wildly painted, though with totally 

Honors Director Dr. Andrew P. Yox noted that “all of our students came with nicely timed, and focused presentations.  Wilson gave a very spirited, coherent address.  Higgins was bold and provocative, and Dierflinger, personable, and knowledgeable.  Garcia’s presentation, providing segments of the upcoming film, was uniquely entertaining and impressive. I believe this was our strongest showing at the GPHC since 2018, when both Brenda Godoy, and Hannah Dickson won Boe Awards. ”