Photo description: Group shot of Educational Award winners and Dr. Robert Emery (Safety Bob). Not pictured: Nita Channabasava, Briana Easterwood, Sara Filla, Christopher Lee Ho, Gerardo Muniz, Mable Self, Janice Thomas, Jack Treadway, Khalea Williams
Each year, many high school graduating seniors submit an application for a chance to be recognized as a deserving student for the UTHealth Houston Classified Staff Council’s (UCSC) Educational Award. Since 2006, the council has granted awards totaling $243,500 to those students whose outstanding efforts have enabled them to meet challenging standards of excellence. The council seeks to pay tribute to those students who go the extra mile each and every day in their scholastics and to serve their communities as well as inspire others to do the same. A team of judges, who are UTHealth Houston leaders in various capacities, reviewed the applications, narrowing the field to the 27 finalists.
On Friday, July 14, 2023, UCSC held its annual workshop in at the Denton and Ralph Cooley University Life Center at UTHealth Houston. During the workshop, winners for the 2023 Annual Educational Awards were announced during a ceremony to honor both students and parents. Keynote speaker for the event was LaShawn Pursley-Huey, DNP, RN. She is a seasoned nurse with 32 years of experience who has carved a successful career, and become a beacon of inspiration and mentorship for aspiring health care professionals. During the annual ceremony $21,500 in cash awards were awarded to 27 graduating high school seniors of UTHealth Houston classified staff.
The following winners were selected from a pool of 49 applicants:
Parent: Mathew Abraham - Cardiovascular Sonographer III
Parent: Madelyn Orta - Senior Administrative Assistant
Parent: Kavitha Nagraju - Clinical Staff Pharmacist
Parent: Rebecca Chapa - Senior Administrative Coordinator
Parent: Jude De Bordes - Senior Research Scientist
Parent: Jessica Easterwood - Director of Revenue Cycle Services
Parent: Connie Filla - Medical Assistant III
Parent: Allison Guillot - Nurse II
Parent: Raji Kumar - Staff Nurse II
Parent: Li Li - Research Coordinator III
Parent: Lorie Medlenka - Business Development Representative
Parent: Angelica Muniz - Research Assistant I
Parent: Graciette Marques-Tavares - Assistant Director, Visiting Scholars and Global Health
Parent: Maria Hernandez - Staff Nurse II
Parent: Scwetha Pazhoor - Senior Research Compliance Specialist
Parent: Kevin Pham - Programmer Analyst IV
Parent: Equilla Porter - Medical Assistant III
Parent: Sonia Aguilar - Financial Reporting and Accounting Manager
Parent: Kim Self - Program Manager
Parent: Annjeanette Smith - Staff Nurse III
Parent: Phebe Thomas - Preceptor
Parents: Tom Andrews - Staff Nurse II and Rebecca Job - Staff Nurse II
Parent: Jenifer Treadway - Senior Research Nurse
Parent: Bridgett Hobbs - Research Nurse
Parent: Michael Valladolid - Systems and Applications Specialist IV
Parent: Amanda Williams - Medical Assistant III
Parent: Reyna Ybarra - Medical Sonographer III
The winners will be attending the following colleges and universities:
Amherst College, Brown University, Sam Houston State University, San Jacinto College, University of Houston, University of Houston Clear Lake, Texas A&M - College Station, Texas A&M – Galveston, University of Saint Mary, University of Texas at Arlington, University of Texas at Austin, University of Texas at Dallas, and University of Texas at San Antonio.
This year’s UCSC Educational Awards committee members were:
Monica Bennett, Russell Brown, Nena Fairbanks, Ashley Galvan, Tara Green, Telisha Green, Tricia Hill-Thomas, Catherine March, Nicolle Patterson, John Rizkallah, Christina Villareal, and Ebony Wolford.