Honors and accolades continue to come in from West Texas A&M University, which recently celebrated its Class of 2026 at four spring commencement ceremonies, as well as other year-end events before the summer break.
For more information on recognized students, visit the WT newsroom website.
Twenty-four graduates from the Dyke and Terry Rogers Leadership Education and Development Program were celebrated at 6 p.m. May 14 in Legacy Hall in the Jack B. Kelley Student Center on WT’s Canyon campus. Rogers LEAD WT was created in 2012 to challenge high-achieving students to further develop their leadership potential.
“We celebrate each Rogers LEAD WT graduate for their dedication and growth, confident that the leadership foundations built will empower them to succeed far beyond their time at WT,” said Kimberly Cornelsen, executive director. “We look forward to their future accomplishments and the lasting impact they will make.”
Those honored, all seniors, included:
The Rogers LEAD WT program currently includes 52 students.
Other WT news
The WT Alumni Association and its Canyon-Amarillo Alumni Chapter will host the fourth annual WT Alumni at Hodgetown event June 24 at the ballpark, 715 S. Buchanan St. in Amarillo. The Amarillo Sod Poodles will face off against the Frisco Rough Riders at 7:05 p.m. Gates open at 6 p.m. Alumni will gather at the Pepsi Party Deck. A fajita dinner and non-alcoholic drinks are included. Discounted tickets can be purchased online at mercury.wtamu.edu/alumni-events/.
Alumni who earned their degrees 50 or more years ago are invited to celebrate June 11 with the WT Alumni Association at the Golden and Diamond Buff Reunion on June 11. The reunion will celebrate all alumni classes from 1976 and earlier, with special recognition for the class of 1976’s 50th anniversary and the class of 1966’s 60th anniversary. Deadline to register is June 4. Entry fee is by donation at wtamu.edu/goldendiamond. The day’s events will include a meet-and-greet at 10 a.m. in Legends Club in the Jack B. Kelley Student Center; lunch with President Walter V. Wendler; conversations with student leaders; tours of the newly restored Geneva Schaeffer Education Building; and more. For information, call 806-651-2311.
On May 14, the McNair Scholars Legacy Gala celebrated 12 graduates from the McNair Scholars Program ahead of commencement ceremonies. “This program provides a rigorous experience in undergraduate research and seminars that detail graduate school studies and skills,” said Dr. Victoria Salas, director. “We are empowering these first-generation undergraduates to fulfill their potential and successfully move to the next level of higher education.” The graduates, all seniors, include Jocelyn Baca, Miriam Camargo, Alex Holguin, and Romie Rubio, all of Amarillo; Eliz Miranda of El Paso; Luis Alfredo Avila of Hereford; Riven Robinson of Levelland; Luis Abraham Martinez Jr. and Lizett Silva of Pampa; Erick Garcia and Julian Rivero of Perryton; and Fernando Anguiano of Spearman. Students represent all six of WT’s Colleges, and 10 of the honorees will begin pursuing graduate degrees in the fall.
Dr. Beth Garcia, WT’s Sylvia Nugent Professor of Education in the Department of Education in the Terry B. Rogers College of Education and Social Sciences, was announced as a Powell Fellow during the University’s May 16 commencement ceremony, one of four held this year. She will study how AI might be used to improve classroom teaching after receiving $50,000 as part of the honor. “The Twanna Powell Faculty Fellowship is the most prestigious campus-wide award for a faculty member,” said Dr. Neil Terry, provost and executive vice president of academic affairs. Garcia will work with Canyon Independent School District teachers to develop a coaching system that incorporates artificial intelligence. “We want to see if AI will produce a coaching model for every experience level,” Garcia said. “The premise is that every teacher, even our rock stars, can improve their practice to support student growth.”
WT’s Laura and Joe Street School of Nursing’s annual pinning ceremony — held at 10 a.m. May 15 at Oasis Southwest Baptist Church in Amarillo — recognized 70 students who graduated during a commencement ceremony held later that afternoon. Pinning ceremonies are an opportunity to recognize the students’ hard work and dedication in their clinicals and in classwork, marking the transition from student to nurse, said Laura Reyher, director of the Street School of Nursing and WT’s Laura and Joe Street Professor of Nursing. “Today we recognize the hard work, compassion, and determination it took for these students to reach this milestone,” said Dr. Collette Loftin, department head and WT’s Nancy and John Kritser Professor of Nursing. “The pinning ceremony honors their journey to graduate and succeed while carrying forward the values of nursing at WT.” Of the 70 graduates, 86 percent plan to work in Amarillo or the Panhandle region.
At WT Theatre’s annual Branding Iron Theatre Awards on May 14, several students were honored for their work in the classroom and in the program’s four stage productions over the last academic year. “This is a great time of year to acknowledge and recognize students for all the work that they have done both in the classroom and productions,” said Callie Hisek, the theatre program coordinator and WT’s Royal R. Brantley Professor of Theatre. “It is a time of celebration and reflection of the year that we had, and what a year it was!” WT Theatre’s 2026-2027 season will feature “The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical” from Oct. 14 to 18; “It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play” from Nov. 18 to 22; “Twelfth Night” from March 3 to 7; and “Hello Dolly!” from April 14 to 18.
America Pacheco, a freshman education major from Amherst, and Aaron Orrantia, a freshman finance major from Dumas, were named Scholars of the Year as WT’s College Assistance Migrant Program, or CAMP, celebrated the end of the academic year during a luncheon in the Fairly Club at the Bain-Schaeffer Buffalo Stadium on WT’s Canyon campus. CAMP’s Rising Stars of the Year were Eloy Ceballos, a freshman animal science major from Hereford, and Lilibeth Hernandez, a freshman nursing major from Plainview. Jimmy Muñoz, a junior sports and exercise sciences major from Olton, was honored as the 2026 CAMP Student Champion. Filiberto Ávila, a 2024 WT alumnus who completed the CAMP program in 2022, was recognized as the 2026 CAMP Distinguished Alumnus. The luncheon was held as part of a series of year-end events leading up to commencement ceremonies.
At a May 12 reception, students from the William H. and Joyce Attebury Honors Program celebrated their accomplishments and saluted their advisers during the reception in Legacy Hall in the Jack B. Kelley Student Center on WT’s Canyon campus. The graduating seniors received a special designation in the commencement program and a medallion at commencements in the First United Bank Center on the Canyon campus. The Attebury Honors program currently includes 194 students.
The new “Molecules to Megawatts: AI for Future Energy” Computational Summer Camp, scheduled for June 22 to July 10, will offer a fellowship for up to 10 prospective students to attend the camp, thanks to a grant from the National Science Foundation. Students will explore basic machine learning and artificial intelligence, develop an app related to next-generation energy materials and build dye-sensitized solar cells from scratch, among other opportunities, said camp organizer Dr. Juganta Roy, assistant professor of chemistry in the Department of Chemistry and Physics in WT’s Paul and Virginia Engler College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences. Application deadline is May 31.
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: LEAD WT graduates among students honored ahead of commencement
Reporting by Kristina Wood, Amarillo Globe-News / Amarillo Globe-News
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