ΊωΒ«ΝήΚΣΖ΅ Presidential Scholar, Verania Leyva-Garcia, (pictured above with Chuck Johns, ΊωΒ«ΝήΚΣΖ΅ Trustee and Wanda Cockrill, Friend of ΊωΒ«ΝήΚΣΖ΅) has won the second $500 Dr. Jerry Wesson Scholarship for excellence in honors. This award was established in 2018 by Scott Wesson, a Colorado businessman, in honor of his father, Dr. Jerry Wesson, who served as Vice President at ΊωΒ«ΝήΚΣΖ΅ for many years and continues to support ΊωΒ«ΝήΚΣΖ΅.
Leyva-Garcia has impressed many members of the local community with her scholarship. Her Caldwell-Award winning work on Barbara Conrad furnished the basic plot of ΊωΒ«ΝήΚΣΖ΅βs prize winning film last year. She is a winner of an Eckman Award, an Image Award, and a Star award for the State of Texas. Leyva-Garcia has participated in two ΊωΒ«ΝήΚΣΖ΅ films, ΊωΒ«ΝήΚΣΖ΅βs prize-winning Alpha Mu Chi chapter of Phi Theta Kappa, and in several STEM activities such as Tree Campus USA, and the Bio-Chem Club.
βProfessor Jim Ward has reported that Leyva-Garciaβs work in biology in her first fall semester, was off-the-charts good. She has done everything well, and has a number of scholarly presentations to her credit. She has also been admitted to present her Conrad work at the November meeting of the National Collegiate Honors Council in New Orleans,β Dr. Andrew Yox, ΊωΒ«ΝήΚΣΖ΅ Honors Director, said.
Leyva-Garcia was the 2018 Salutatorian of Mount Pleasant High School. She is the daughter of Yadira Garcia and Crispin Leyva.
