By Marley Anthony

Assistant Editor

The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor’s Kingdom Diversity office kicked off Women’s Heritage Month by hosting the first annual “Inspired Women, Inspiring Women” event on March 2, in Lord Conference Hall. The evening brought students the opportunity to listen to the stories of female UMHB staff and faculty and honor their leadership. 

The panel featured insights from Global Outreach Director Tiffany Horton, Associate Director of Museum and Alumni Engagement Beth Norvell, Assistant Director of Kingdom Diversity Rebeka Retta and moderated by junior nursing major Hailie Rangel. These women were chosen by Kingdom Diversity to speak about their inspirations growing up and gave advice to the next generation of female students.  

“I feel like everyone needs to know that they are supported, encouraged and that they have inspirational people on campus surrounding them,” junior biology major Chloe Cox said. Cox was on the committee for planning the Women’s Heritage Month event. “Women inspiring women creates a legacy of confidence, wisdom and leadership that has potential for an amazing impact,” Cox continued. Kingdom Diversity had already been celebrating Women’s Heritage Month since the office opened three years ago.  

Faculty from the UMHB Alumni Office, Spiritual Life and Kingdom Diversity all came together to discuss and plan events, but after last year’s speaker brought in more UMHB faculty than students, the university decided to take a different approach to make the event more intriguing to students. 

“This year when we sat around and discussed the event, we were just sitting there like ‘we want to hear from the women that have inspired us,’ and the plan evolved from that,” Retta said. After sharing a story about a woman who she admired as a teenager and later impacted her life, the event planners decided to use her story as inspiration for the event. “We need to hear from the women around campus that students look up to,” Retta said. 

After the women on the panel finished speaking, students had the opportunity to share homemade desserts made by UMHB alumni and speak with female UMHB staff, faculty and student leaders to ask questions and hear their stories. A total of 11 members of faculty and staff spoke to students, and 10 student leaders involved in on campus events, such as Miss MHB and Revival, also gave input from a student’s perspective. “[Women] go through a lot and often feel underqualified for things we are perfectly qualified for,” senior marketing major Paige Jones said. Jones was asked to be a student table leader by Kingdom Diversity for being an inspiring female student. “You can hear it from anyone, but from another woman it’s even more powerful,” Jones continued.  

After the successful reach of the Inspired Women Inspiring Women panel, Kingdom Diversity has decided to make it an annual event to celebrate Women’s Heritage Month. Kingdom Diversity strives to build connections with and celebrate all students, for more information on getting involved or upcoming events, visit their office in Bawcom or email kingdomdiversity@umhb.edu.