NTCC's Landaverde receives prestigious Jack Kent Cooke transfer scholarship

Courtesy Photo 

Daniel Landaverde is pictured presenting original academic research earlier in the year.

Daniel Landaverde, a Presidential Scholar at Northeast Texas Community College, is one of 50 recipients of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation’s prestigious Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship. The highly competitive national scholarship will provide him with up to $40,000 a year to complete his bachelor’s degree.

Landaverde was one of only two students in Texas to win this prestigious accolade. Nearly 1,500 students from 311 community colleges applied for the 2020 Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship. The Foundation evaluated each submission based on students’ academic ability and achievement, financial need, persistence, leadership, and service to others.

In addition to financial support, new Cooke Transfer Scholars will receive comprehensive educational advising from the Foundation to guide them through the process of transitioning to a four-year college and preparing for their careers. Scholars will additionally receive opportunities for internships, study abroad, and graduate school funding, as well as connection to a thriving network of over 2,700 fellow Cooke Scholars and alumni.

Four NTCC students and a college alumna qualified as semi-finalists for the award in February.  They were Presidential Scholars Courtney Baldwin, Landaverde, and Verania Leyva, as well as former Presidential Scholars, Jazmin Garcia, and Honors/Phi Theta Kappa Coordinator, Andrea Reyes. “My journey here at NTCC has been an amazing experience. I was provided with an excellent staff and professors who helped me along my way and made this dream possible. I have been given a remarkable opportunity to develop myself, and it's through the constant help of my peers and family that I was able to reach this milestone,” Landaverde said after being surprised with news of the award.

Last spring Landaverde became the seventh winner of the Elizabeth Chitsey Award for the honors student at NTCC who most exceeded expectations.  He participated in two NTCC films, in poetry contests, and honors trips funded by Drs. Jim and Paula Archer, and others. 

He went on to win Phi Theta Kappa’s Leaders of Promise Award in the fall of 2019, and present at the meeting of the National Collegiate Honors Council at New Orleans in November of 2019.  Finally, Daniel was named to the All-Texas Academic Team, sponsored by the Texas Association of Community Colleges and Phi Theta Kappa, earlier this month.

Landaverde is the 10th honors student at NTCC to have received this prestigious award since 2010. The other nine were Clara Ramirez 2010, Stephani Calderon 2013, Matthew Jordan 2014 Stephen Milburn 2014, Kayleah Cumpian 2015, Angelica Fuentes 2016, Jessica Velazquez 2016, Alicia Cantrell 2018, and Brenda Godoy 2018.

The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation is dedicated to advancing the education of exceptionally promising students who have financial need. Since 2000, the Foundation has awarded over $200 million in scholarships to over 2,700 students from 8th grade through graduate school, along with comprehensive educational advising and other support services. The Foundation has also provided $110 million in grants to organizations that serve such students.

To learn more about Honors Northeast, visit www.ntcc.edu/honors.