Keynote Speakers
Molly Hudgens
Thursday, November 3, 2022
Opening Keynote
Molly Bradley Hudgens is in her twenty-first year as an educator in the Cheatham County School System where she serves as a school counselor at Sycamore Middle School in Pleasant View, Tennessee. In addition to her counseling role, Mrs. Hudgens also serves on SMS’s Crisis Management and Leadership Teams.
After a personal experience in college, her interest in violence prevention and safety sparked a desire to educate others who work with intervening in the lives of potentially violent teenagers. Her in-depth study on school shootings and the teenagers who commit these acts, “Recognizing Red Flags,” has been utilized nationally to train professionals in the fields of education, law enforcement, juvenile probation, and juvenile court. The training focuses on understanding the three types of school shooters and how to use threat assessment tools as an intervention to prevent violent acts in a school and community setting. Mrs. Hudgens put her training to use on September 28, 2016, when she talked a student with a loaded handgun out of committing a mass shooting at Sycamore Middle School.
Hudgens, the 2004-2005 and 2016-2017 Sycamore Middle School and Cheatham County Middle School Teacher of the Year, became a Congressional Medal of Honor Citizens Honor recipient for a Single Act of Heroism from the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation in March of 2017. She is also the 2017 recipient of the Tennessee School Counseling Association’s Phoebe White Award for Excellence in School Counseling and the 2019 Mental Health of the Midsouth’s I.C. Hope Award for bringing mental health awareness to schools.
She is the owner of Molly B. Hudgens Communications and is a motivational speaker as well as a violence prevention specialist. Hudgens’ book, “Saving Sycamore: The School Shooting that Never Happened,” published by Dave Burgess Consulting, is set for publication in fall of 2020. Molly resides in Ashland City, Tennessee, with her husband Jason, and two sons, Bradley and Henry.
John Hodge
Friday, November 4, 2022
Closing Keynote
Dr. John W. Hodge is president and co-founder of Urban Learning and Leadership Center (ULLC), an organization focused on student achievement and reduction of the achievement gap.
He has served as a reading teacher, English teacher, AVID teacher, Assistant Principal and Associate Director of AVID Center Eastern Division. He served as Director of An Achievable Dream Academy, an inner city school that piloted many of the interventions used by Urban Learning and Leadership Center. An Achievable Dream Academy is a high performing, high poverty school that has received numerous national awards. Prior to his career in education, Dr. Hodge distinguished himself in the service of our country with the 7th Infantry Division of the United States Army.
What sets Dr. John W. Hodge apart in the field of education is his well-documented ability to put research and theory into everyday practice in rural, urban and suburban schools. His career has been defined by assisting students and teachers overcome obstacles and achieve goals. He has served as an inspirational speaker at national, regional, and statewide conferences across the United States. His presentations are often “the spark” for schools in their quest to meet and exceed state/federal accreditation standards and implement strategies for continuous improvement. Dr. Hodge is an expert in helping schools create and sustain academic excellence.
