by Charles Hodges
It was my honor to serve as the Chair of the East Fort Worth Business Association Wanda Conlin Scholarship Committee. I would like to thank Bill Schwennsen, David Salgado, Michael Shedd and Amanda Hollins for serving on this year's selection committee. They did a wonderful job selecting an amazing group of students for this scholarship award. I had the most enjoyable job on the committee. I got to personally interview each of these seven outstanding young scholars-leaders to inform them of their $1500 Award, and learn about their personal stories. I'm sure you'll be just as amazed as I am.
I speak for everyone in our Association by thanking your parents, siblings and friends for their support. We congratulate you on your amazing accomplishments and look forward to the wonderful things you'll add to our world moving forward.
Karla is a rare combination of scholar and artist. She currently number-one in her Class of 2025 with a core GPA of 4.4. Her transcript is full of science and math courses. In fact, she placed 2nd in the University Interscholastic League chemistry competition, which is no small feat. She has held various offices in the Future Business Leaders Association, and she is also a budding artist, having placed first in a recent Harambee art festival.
How many of you are familiar with the recent mural paintings at Oakland Lake Park that were in the local news? Well, Karla was one of the Eastern Hills art students who worked with the City of Fort Worth to paint beautiful images of positivity throughout this eastside park. Karla says she gets her inspiration from her parents, who came to this country from Honduras with $5 and an American Dream and turned it into a reality for their family. One day she aspires to start her own business after graduating in accounting either from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin, UTA or TCU. It's still early in the application process, and like any business-minded person, she is waiting to see what offers will come her way.
Karla's mantra describes her to a tee. She says, "If you don't work for it, you won't get it."
Courtney recently completed her studies at Texans CAN Academy and is now working a full-time job saving as much as she can so she can start Tarrant Community College in 2025 to pursue a career in veterinary services. That's been a dream of hers ever since receiving a dog in middle school from her mother to help her overcome bullying.
Now she drives her family crazy by rescuing various animals, which can include such things as pigs and chickens. She considers her sister as her role model – say hi to sis – who always placed her own well-being behind that of helping Courtney stay on track. She says her friends might be surprised that she loves rock music – particularly heavy metal. In contrast, in school she was inspired to play the clarinet in homage to Squidward, a clarinet-playing character in SpongeBob Squarepants.
Texans CAN Academy Principal Justin Reyes had this to say about Courtney… "Often, we have the honor of crossing paths with extraordinary individuals that endure more than most. Individuals that soar beyond expectations, and like the Phoenix, are reinvigorated through the fire and come out even more phenomenal. Ms. Courtney Smith, is one such scholar."
Solange came to this country from Uganda with her parents and seven siblings 9 years ago, speaking and reading no English. As the second youngest in her family, she embraced the opportunity as an English language learner and rapidly blossomed into a stellar student and citizen. She ranks 12th in her class with a 4.1 GPA.
Her academic accomplishments are quite lengthy. She takes college-credit English, algebra, physics and history classes. She participates in AVID, Key Club, My Sister's Keeper, and National Honor Society.
She is active outside the classroom as well, serving as captain of her volleyball team, playing setter, which is considered the hardest position.
She also serves in JROTC and has held various positions of responsibility. Her role with JROTC has also allowed her to participate in many community service activities, such as parades and food drives.
She aspires to attend Texas Wesleyan University, University of North Texas, Tarleton University, or Texas Christian University with hopes of one day becoming a radiologist. She wants to always remember where she came from and to help make the world a more positive place.
Venice claims she didn't break out of her self-proclaimed freshman slump until her uncle, an Eastern Hills alum, encouraged her to join JROTC. She took that advice to heart and is ranked in the top 8-percent of her graduating class with a GPA of 3.9.
She says she learned to not only focus on school, but to enjoy this fleeting time of her young life and develop her leadership skills.
This includes participation in school theater, manager of the softball team, manager of the tennis team, manager of the powerlifting team (let's see those muscles), joining the debate team, and participating in the school's Just Keep Livin' after-school initiative.
JROTC is really where she has left her mark. She says she is most proud of serving as the Battalion Commander – first as a junior, which is unusual, and now as a senior.
During her tenure as Commander, the Battalion was one of only 5-percent of all JROTC units nationwide named Honor Unit of Distinction by officers from the Army JROTC headquarters in Fort Knox, Kentucky. She credits JROTC Sergeant Major Jones for helping shape her into the person she has become.
She hopes to attend the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin and pursue a career in corporate law. For all of the lawyers in the room, here's your next intern candidate.
Gabriel is the musician among this year's awardees. He specializes in the drums and has earned many accolades for his skill: is sophomore year he was named percussionist of the year.
Last year he was named first chair all-region jazz band by the Association of Texas Small School Bands, which is an instrument he had only started playing the year prior. He also was named first chair all-state jazz band and first chair all-state by the Texas Private School Music Educators Association.
In addition, Gabriel received a Rank 1 for snare drum solo and for a solo and ensemble contest at the state level, which is the highest possible ranking. He was also drumline captain of the celebrated Nolan Marching Band. abriel is also talented in other academic areas at Nolan. He is most proud of making the highest possible score on his English AP test, which only about 1-in-10 testers achieve each year.
He is looking to attend either the University of Kansas or Duquesne (Du-Kane) University in Pittsburgh. He hopes to study music therapy after his positive experience with music to help children with autism and people suffering with dementia.
Graciela currently holds the number-one class ranking at Dunbar, with a core GPA of 4.54.
She says she gained a lot of experience and confidence through her participation in the Wildcat JROTC Battalion.
In JROTC she has been awarded with the Daughter of the American Revolution Award, Reserve Officer Medal, and Distinguished Cadet Award for scholastic excellence.
She is a recipient of the Lockheed Martin Academic Scholar award and wears her academic sweatshirt with pride. She has also been recognized with the College Board National Hispanic Award.
Coming into high school, Graciela describes herself as shy and timid and not very outspoken. However, her classmates and teachers, especially her JROTC instructor Master Sargent Scott helped bring her out of her shell. One of the things she discovered was her interest and talent in visual arts. She was able to explore that interest while taking a rigorous load of AP and honors classes, as well as dual credit college hours. When asked about her favorite classes, she said, "All of them."
She hopes to attend TCU or SMU and earn a degree in fine arts. As she says, she is a dreamer, and she has the drive and passion to chase those dreams."
Christopher is ranked first out of his graduating class with a 4.6 core GPA on a 4-scale. He truly has the "it" factor. He's equal parts scholar, athlete and leader. At YMLA, Christopher is in the National Honor Society, president of the SAT Club, was selected to participate in the high school high scholar program, president of the school's business program, secretary of the student council and founder of the computer science club.
As an athlete, he runs on the varsity track team, being a 2-time District medalist and 6-time season medalist in the 4x100m and 800m events. He is also a national ESports champion for Mortal Kombat 1. ESports is short for electronic sports, which is a form of competition using video games. If you think that's just fun and games, consider that the ESports industry is projected to have 2024 revenues of $4.3 billion dollars.
Christopher aspires to work toward building a tech-driven world that prioritizes sustainability with computer science by attending Rice University in Houston. There he hopes to join the Master of Energy Transition and Sustainability programs with an admirable goal of helping save lives.
He calls his father his mentor and the first person he goes to for advice. Shout-out to Dad and Mom!
by Bill Schwennsen
Our honoree for Business of the Year, the Underground Cigar Shop and Lounge, was born from a love of boutique cigars. A group of cigar smokers banded together in pursuit of a place to discover, share, and smoke unique and hard-to-find cigars. Underground opened its initial location in 2013 in Historic Handley, a time when the cigar industry was just entering the boom of the "Boutique Cigar Revolution".
The opportunity to source and share fine boutique cigars sparked the collaboration between Underground's owners, Don Wiggins and Mark Scott. Their vision was realized with the opening of their original location on East Lancaster Avenue in the area of Handley now known as the "wedding district". One year later, the response to Underground's opening led Don and Mark to move to a larger location on Erie Street, one block from their original location. It was during their Erie Street days that they held their first cigar festival, UG Fest 2015, bringing cigar vendors and cigar lovers from all over the country… and even overseas… to East Fort Worth to explore and enjoy the boutique cigars on offer and the camaraderie of other cigar lovers. The success of the UG Fest events, and the continuing growth of business, led Don and Mark to buy the building at 6409 East Lancaster formerly the home of Bogart's Bar and Lounge, and remodel it into the first-class facility that serves as Underground's home today.
As they say, "success breeds success", and this saying is certainly true for Underground. In addition to their annual UG Fest event, the quality of the cigars and their facility has led to Underground being honored as the "best cigar shop" in numerous years by both the Fort Worth Weekly and the Dallas Morning News in their annual "best of" awards. Don and Mark also support the "Cigars for Warriors" program, a national effort to provide cigars to our military wherever they are located, worldwide, and to date has provided over 1.6 million cigars to our troops. Underground's reputation has been built to the point where they now have customers all over the US, and internationally as well.
Underground's success has brought national and international recognition not only to them, but to East Fort Worth as well.
The North Central Texas Council of Governments is a voluntary association of local governments that assist each other in regional planning for the DFW area. One of the most significant areas where the "COG" helps the region with area coordination of needs, programs, and initiatives is in the transportation sector. From roadway planning to freight movement… bicycles to aviation… and defense to transit management, the North Central Texas Council of Governments is deeply involved in working with our local governments to define and achieve the needs and goals of their communities.
Our honoree as Man of the Year for 2024, Michael Morris, Director of the Transportation Department for the COG. The Department serves the region by developing transportation plans, programs, and projects for our local governments in the fourth-largest and fastest-growing metropolitan area in the United States. Over a decade ago, the East Fort Worth Business Association reached out to Michael for assistance in improving East Lancaster Avenue. Little did we know that Michael would become as invested as we were in the efforts to improve East Lancaster and the surrounding area. Since the Avenue is still technically a state highway, both the City of Fort Worth and the Texas Department of Transportation had to be partners with the COG in the planning and funding efforts. Speaking of funding, Michael was doggedly determined to secure federal dollars as part of the overall funding for the project. These efforts… planning, lobbying, grant writing, coordination with governmental entities… took years, literally. At long last, a plan for the redevelopment of East Lancaster was adopted by the City of Fort Worth and accepted by the Texas Department of Transportation this past January. The planning is underway, and over the next several years more than $200 million dollars will be available to design and implement a world-class renewal of this important commercial artery. The economic benefits to East Fort Worth from a renewal of East Lancaster on this scale are limited only by our imaginations. It's been a long, tough struggle, but we're finally on our way, thanks in large measure to Michael's vision and effort.
Those of us who might be considered "long time" Eastsiders have lamented for years… even decades… the slow erosion of retail opportunities on our side of town. Whether it be supermarkets, restaurants, specialty retailers, or service providers we don't seem to have near the number of retailers and service providers that an area of our geographic size and population would normally warrant. Outside of the Eastchase/I-30 area, our new retail opportunities have been few and far between.
According to developers, one of the factors they look at when developing new retail is population density of the surrounding area. Many of our older areas lack the number of housing units needed to provide enough population density to entice retail developers. However, a locally-based developer…Palladium USA, headquartered in Dallas… has begun a development that should be a game-changer. The Palladium City Skyline community, our 2024 winner of the Project of the Year award, is a 243-unit mixed-income community located at 4909 East Lancaster Avenue (if you need a point of reference, this is close to the old Hilscher's Nursery location). The Palladium staff worked closely with the Central Meadowbrook Neighborhood Association for over two years to ensure that the City Skyline project complemented the existing neighborhood. The collaboration between the neighborhood and Palladium was so broad that the company actually allowed the neighborhood association to select the name for the project! Another example of Palladium's dedication to quality is that, when City Skyline is completed, the on-site management will be Palladium employees, not a third party firm. The neighborhood association is 100% behind this project, which is the first large-scale private development in the East Lancaster corridor in over 20 years and represents an investment of over $65 million dollars. Please know that City Skyline is not a "proposed" project…the dirt is turning on the construction site, with project completion currently scheduled for Summer 2026.
Photos by Lloyd Jones, EFWBA.
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