Tyler Junior College has announced sophomore students Chloe Duvak and Cruz Perez 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 Award
Chloe Duvak and Cruz Perez
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.
Chloe Duvak, of Bullard, is a general studies major, with an emphasis on scientific studies.
She is a member of the TJC Presidential Honors Program and Alpha Omicron Chapter of Phi Theta Kappa, and she serves as a student ambassador as well as a tutor on campus. As a member of the honors capstone research class, she was chosen to present her research at a conference at Stephen F. Austin State University and have her research published. She is active on the honors service committee and, during the fall semester, helped organize a campus-wide winter gear drive in which more than 100 winter items were collected and donated to the Salvation Army.
After graduating from TJC, Duvak plans to transfer to Texas Christian University and pursue a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry. She eventually plans to attend medical school and become a surgeon.
Cruz Perez is a general studies major from Tyler. He is a member of the TJC Presidential Honors Program and Alpha Omicron Chapter of Phi Theta Kappa and serves as a Student Senate representative. He is an honors capstone scholar and, in 2019, was selected to present his research at Stephen F. Austin State University. He participated in the PTK Adopt a Highway and Adopt a Spot programs to help beautify the campus and community.
While at TJC, he has received the Presidential Scholarship and, most recently, the Hunt and Dawson Family Baylor Annual Scholarship.
Outside of campus, he works at the local Honda dealership and serves as the executive music director and teaches Sunday school at Life Church, where he also volunteers to clean the church and maintain the churchyard.
After graduating from TJC, Perez plans to transfer to either Baylor University or The University of Texas at Tyler to study political science.
Watson W. Wise Incentive Award
Chloe Duvak
Duvak 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.
She will receive a $905 scholarship for the fall 2020 semester.