Written by Emily Jenkins, Staff Writer
The College of Education at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor hosted their annual COE Convocation Sept. 3, 2025 at the Parker Academic Center in the Lord Conference Center.
The COE Convocation is similar to the traditional UMHB Convocation as both call students together for a purpose, but the COE Convocation brings the students in the College of Education together rather than calling the entire university.
Jodi Pilgrim, associate dean and literacy coordinator for the College of Education, said, “I’m going to guess that you’re in this room because you’ve been called to be an educator, whether it’s a certified teacher [or] education advocate. We’re all here; we have a shared purpose.”
Pilgrim explained that the goals of the COE Convocation was to celebrate the students of the College of Education, to to build a community among the students and the faculty and to set the students up for success.
To celebrate, the freshmen, sophomore, junior and senior class representatives competed in a Kahoot! game on education trivia. The junior class won and earned every junior present a prize of a sticker and pen. However, no one was let out as everyone received a COE T-shirt at the end of the event and 11 students received a door prize.
Additionally, the students were able to build community by being introduced to all the staff and faculty in the COE.
The staff and faculty were able to give the students helpful advice, announcements and reminders to set students up for success. For example, Brenda Morton, who has a doctorate in educational leadership, advised students when AI is appropriate to use.
In addition, Craig Hammonds, dean of the College of Education, informed students of the two-week student exchange program between Johanniter Academy in Leipzig and UMHB. The program is for six select UMHB students, two of which are COE students, this upcoming December.
In addition to this announcement, Hammonds invited COE students to the Texas Association of Future Educators conference, where the COE hosts around 500 high school students interested in the education field.
For more information about the UMHB College of Education follow them on Instagram @umhb_coe or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/UMHBCOE.
