BROWNWOOD – September 15, 2017 – Mac Eric “Villy” Villanueba of Paradise has been named Outstanding Young Graduate by Howard Payne University. He is among nine who will be honored during HPU’s 2017 Homecoming festivities, October 20-21. Additional honorees are listed at www.hputx.edu/homecoming and will be highlighted in the weeks to come.
Villanueba and the other honorees will be recognized during the Alumni & Sports Hall of Fame Banquet on Friday, October 20, beginning at 6 p.m. The honorees will also be featured in the Homecoming Parade on Saturday, October 21, beginning at 10 a.m. Ticket information for the banquet and a full schedule of the weekend’s events are available online at www.hputx.edu/homecoming.
Villanueba graduated from HPU in 2014 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in criminal justice and a minor in Spanish. While a student, he participated in the Sigma Theta Phi fraternity and the Student Planning Committee.
Since graduating, he has served as a patrol deputy with the Hood County Sheriff’s Office and is currently a patrol corporal for Palmer Police Department. Earlier in 2017, he was honored by the Garland Police Department for taking heroic, life-saving actions in rescuing a woman from a burning vehicle.
He is active in his church, Watermark Community Church of Dallas, where he serves with the young adults ministry and plays in the church league softball team.
He believes the biggest way HPU prepared him for success was by teaching him how to be a Christ-like servant.
“As a supervisor, I get to be a servant to my officers and I get an opportunity to reveal to them a Christ-centered style of leadership,” he said. “I honestly believe that I would have not learned all of these things if it were not for HPU.”
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Cutline: Mac Eric “Villy” Villanueba of Paradise is among nine who will be honored during HPU’s Homecoming 2017 activities, October 20-21.