COE Welcome Day Connects Students with Community and Opportunity
Students explored resources, partnerships, career pathways, and ways to get involved while celebrating the cultures and connections that strengthen the College of Education community.
Finding your place at a university is about more than finding your classrooms.
It is also about discovering the people who can support you, the organizations where you can get involved, the experiences that can prepare you for your career, and the communities where you can build relationships.
That spirit of discovery brought students, faculty, staff, and community partners together on the Eastburn Front Lawn for the Northern Arizona University College of Education’s 2026 Welcome Day on September 11.
Rather than simply welcoming students to a new academic year, the event invited them to explore what it means to be part of the COE community.
Students, faculty, staff, student organizations, and community partners gather on the Eastburn Front Lawn for the College of Education’s 2026 Welcome Day.
Discovering opportunities beyond the classroom
Throughout the afternoon, students moved among tables representing College of Education programs, student resources, school and community partnerships, volunteer opportunities, and employment pathways.
The open-house format encouraged students to ask questions and talk directly with the people behind those opportunities.
For students just beginning their NAU experience, those conversations can help make a large university feel more navigable. For returning students, Welcome Day offered another opportunity to discover resources, organizations, and experiences they may not have encountered before.
Together, the participating groups illustrated an important part of the COE student experience: learning extends beyond coursework.
Volunteer experiences can create connections with communities. Student organizations can build friendships and leadership skills. School and community partnerships can provide opportunities to apply what students are learning. Employment opportunities can begin connecting today’s educational experiences with tomorrow’s careers.
Welcome Day brought those possibilities together in one place.
Honoring place, culture, and community
Connection at NAU also means recognizing the people, cultures, and communities that shape the university and the region it serves.
The Welcome Day program included a land acknowledgment and blessing from Terry Curley, followed by remarks from Ann Marie Chischilly, vice president for NAU’s Office of Native American and Indigenous Advancement.
COE Dean Yojanna Cuenca-Carlino also welcomed students and members of the college community to the event.
The program continued with a performance by the Hapa Club, bringing students together through culture, movement, and shared experience.
These moments complemented the resource fair by reminding participants that belonging is built not only through access to services and opportunities, but also through relationships, recognition, and community.
Making connections that last beyond Welcome Day
By the end of the afternoon, students had encountered much more than a collection of information tables.
They had met people they can turn to with questions. They had learned about organizations they can join, opportunities to serve, potential career pathways, and ways to connect their education with communities beyond campus.
Those interactions are an important part of the student experience the College of Education hopes to foster.
Welcome Day may happen once a year, but the connections it creates are intended to last much longer.
As the academic year continues, COE students will have opportunities to turn those first conversations into experiences: joining organizations, working with community partners, volunteering, developing professional networks, and finding their own ways to contribute to the College of Education and the communities it serves.
For students, the invitation continues: explore, ask questions, get involved, and find the people and opportunities that can help make your COE experience your own.