{"id":327215,"date":"2026-06-08T06:10:37","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T06:10:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/327215\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T06:10:37","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T06:10:37","slug":"rep-moran-announces-2026-texas-first-congressional-service-award-winners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/327215\/","title":{"rendered":"Rep. Moran announces 2026 Texas First Congressional Service Award winners"},"content":{"rendered":"

TYLER, Texas (KETK<\/a>) \u2013 U.S. Congressman Nathaniel Moran of Tyler recently announced the winners of this year\u2019s Texas First Congressional Award.<\/p>\n

Rep. Moran pitches WAGES Act to skilled trade companies in East Texas <\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is an incredible honor to recognize the next generation of East Texas leaders through the Texas First Congressional Award,\u201d Moran said. \u201cEach of these students embodies the values that make our communities strong\u2013 hard work, integrity, and a heart for service. I applaud each of them for going above and beyond to serve their schools, communities, and our great state of Texas.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Texas First Congressional Service Award is a service award given out to recognize deserving students in the First Congressional District of Texas, which Moran represents. Nominees were selected mostly from the junior or senior level of East Texas schools.<\/p>\n

KETK News has compiled photos of each of this year\u2019s winners in the slide show below:<\/p>\n

\"Sebastian<\/p>\n

Sebastian Sepulveda \u2013 Chapel Hill High School 12th grade<\/p>\n

\"Sydney<\/p>\n

Sydney Cook and Jordan Harris \u2013 Tyler Legacy High School 12th grade<\/p>\n

\"Samuel<\/p>\n

Samuel Vogler \u2013 Bishop Gorman High School 11th Grade<\/p>\n

\"Molly<\/p>\n

Molly McCabe \u2013 Bishop Gorman High School<\/p>\n

\"Danger<\/p>\n

Danger Troy \u2013 Brooke Hill High School 11th grade<\/p>\n

\"Jirah<\/p>\n

Jirah Park \u2013 Brooke Hill High School 11th grade<\/p>\n

\"Yesenia<\/p>\n

Yesenia Alvarez \u2013 Carlisle High School 12th grade<\/p>\n

\"Cole<\/p>\n

Cole West \u2013 Carlisle High school 12th grade<\/p>\n

\"Michael<\/p>\n

Michael Cherry and Coleigh Buckland -Christian Heritage Classical School 12th grade<\/p>\n

\"Diego<\/p>\n

Diego Andres and Amari Shaw \u2013 DeKalb High School 12th grade<\/p>\n

\"Kennedi<\/p>\n

Kennedi Simmons \u2013 Longview High School 12th grade<\/p>\n

\"Samantha<\/p>\n

Samantha Brown \u2013 Gladewater High School 12th grade<\/p>\n

\"John<\/p>\n

John Dru Watson \u2013 Gladewater High School 12th grade <\/p>\n

\"Payton<\/p>\n

Payton Rice and Rianna de Paula Jund \u2013 Hallsville High School 12th grade<\/p>\n

\"Hallie<\/p>\n

Hallie Williams \u2013 Laneville High School11th Grade<\/p>\n

\"Rennick<\/p>\n

Rennick Taylor and Teresa Lopez \u2013 Marshall High School 12th grade<\/p>\n

\"Patrick<\/p>\n

Patrick Dickerson and Molly Terry \u2013 McLeod High School<\/p>\n

\"Celeste<\/p>\n

Celeste Baker \u2013 Pine Tree High School 12th grade <\/p>\n

\"Dylan<\/p>\n

Dylan Medrano \u2013 Pine Tree High School 12th grade <\/p>\n

\"Emilio<\/p>\n

Emilio Mendez and Brianna Medina \u2013 Trinity School of Texas 12th grade<\/p>\n

\"Valen<\/p>\n

Valen Preusse and Emma Simpson \u2013 Whitehouse High School 11th grade<\/p>\n

\"Brody<\/p>\n

Brody Black and Kaydense Sprayberry \u2013 Mount Enterprise High School 12th Grade<\/p>\n

\"Irving<\/p>\n

Irving Degollado and Molly Johnson \u2013 Tyler Early College High School 12th Grade<\/p>\n

\"David<\/p>\n

David Cawthon \u2013 Panola Early College High School 12th grade<\/p>\n

\"Yaneira<\/p>\n

Yaneira Mendoza and Iyanna Foreman \u2013 Texas High School 12th grade<\/p>\n

\"Caden<\/p>\n

Caden Johnson and Lorena Castillo \u2013 Mount Vernon High School 12th grade<\/p>\n

\"Kylee<\/p>\n

Kylee Blackmon and Mason Gibbs- West Rusk High School 11th grade<\/p>\n

\"Hope<\/p>\n

Hope Hudson \u2013 New Boston High School 12th grade<\/p>\n

\"Corbyn<\/p>\n

Corbyn Smithson \u2013 New Boston High School 12th grade<\/p>\n

The following students were also included in this years group of winners but Moran\u2019s office didn\u2019t have photos of them from this week:<\/p>\n

Center High School<\/p>\n

Nathan Newton -12th grade<\/p>\n

Chapel Hill High School<\/p>\n

Shiloh Smith \u2013 12th grade<\/p>\n

Lindale High School<\/p>\n

Kylon Kincaid \u2013 12th grade<\/p>\n

Mollee-Kate DeWolfe -12th grade<\/p>\n

Tyler High School<\/p>\n

Tristen Taylor \u2013 12th grade<\/p>\n

Francesca Austin \u2013 12th grade<\/p>\n

You can now stream KETK and FOX51 News live 24\/7 on your smart TV\u00a0with\u00a0KETK+<\/a>,\u00a0our brand-new app! No antenna, cable, or satellite needed\u2014watch for free, anytime.\u00a0Just download it on your Roku, Apple TV, or Fire TV and start streaming.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KETK.com | FOX51.com. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TYLER, Texas (KETK) \u2013 U.S. Congressman Nathaniel Moran of Tyler recently announced the winners of this year\u2019s Texas…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":327216,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[116944,116945,27,29,28],"class_list":["post-327215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-bishop-gorman-high-school","tag-chapel-hill-high-school","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=327215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327215\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/327216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}