TJC has announced sophomore students Micah Leary and Kameron Bryant as the recipients of its annual Rotary Young Citizens and Watson W. Wise Incentive awards.
Recipients are chosen by a vote of TJC faculty and staff.
Rotary Young Citizens Awards
Micah Leary and Kameron Bryant
The Rotary Young Citizens Award goes to two TJC sophomores each year, based on qualities including: dependability, service, honesty, courtesy, loyalty, leadership, sportsmanship and scholarship. They will each receive a $500 scholarship.
Micah Leary, of Tyler, is a biology major.
During her time at TJC, Leary has been involved in the TJC Honors Program, Touch of Gold Color Guard, Green Committee, All-Texas Academic Team and STEM Club. She also serves as president of the Alpha Omicron Chapter of Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society.
Through her involvement in the honors program and Phi Theta Kappa, she spent many hours volunteering on campus, including helping to organize projects such as updating the TJC Alert System and assisting with on-campus COVID-19 vaccine clinics. She also organized a workshop to help individuals with filling out scholarship applications.
Leary also gave her time to community projects such as United Day Way of Caring, Adopt a Highway and East Texas Food Bank.
At TJC, she has received the Kenneth D. and Margaret Patterson Endowed Scholarship, the Dr. Mary Hood STAR Scholarship, the Presidential Honors Scholarship, and was named to the President’s List. In addition to being a full-time student and active in campus organizations, she also has a full-time job.
After graduating from TJC, Leary plans to transfer to Texas Tech University, where she will major in molecular and cell biology, with plans to pursue a career in research.
Leary said, “TJC has changed my life, and I am excited to continue my academic career because of the knowledge and support I have received here.”
Kameron Bryant, of Winona, is a mathematics major.
He has been named to the Dean’s List every semester since Fall 2020, and he was nominated for the Emerging Student Leader of the Year Award in Spring 2021. He is active in community service projects through his membership in the Alpha Omicron Chapter of Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society and in the Kappa Kappa Psi Honorary Band Fraternity, and he has volunteered at the East Texas Food Bank
During his time at TJC, Bryant has been involved in the TJC Apache Band and Jazz Band, where he was saxophone section leader and earned a music scholarship. He has served as a leader on the Apache Chiefs orientation team for the last year, and he was awarded with a scholarship for his efforts as a Chief.
After graduating from TJC, he plans to transfer to UT Tyler to continue working toward his bachelor’s and master’s degrees, with eventual plans to be a mathematics professor.
Bryant said, “I am grateful for my experience at TJC. I have had many experiences filled with growth and learning. I would like to thank my mathematics professor, Alice Chichisan, as well as my other professors for setting an excellent example of how to be an educator. I look forward to my career in teaching, and it would be great if I had the opportunity to teach here at TJC.”
Watson W. Wise Incentive Award
Kameron Bryant
Bryant was also named the recipient of the Watson W. Wise Incentive Award.
The award goes to a TJC student who has exhibited the best in the virtues of industry, scholarship and student activity, and who plans to attend a senior university or college in the fall.
He will receive a $1,053 scholarship for the fall semester.