CougarCon unites students through love for pop culture

Students dress and pose during the Cosplay contest at the CougarCon convention, on Tuesday, September 1, 2026, in Houston, Texas. | Gillian Wisniewski/The Cougar

The Student Program Board and Coog Esports hosted the fourth annual CougarCon on Sept. 1 at Student Center South, uniting students from a variety of majors through their shared love for pop culture, community and art.

Students were dressed as their favorite pop culture characters and enjoyed food and drinks as they watched triith excitement

“I love seeing how people have fun and build community here,” said economics senior and special events chair Eniola Elufioye.

Lining both sides of the room were rows of booths, decorated with colorful pins, stickers, keychains and handmade crafts.

The convention hosts around 500 people every year. Among them, perusing the booths, digital media freshman Vinny Villeda, dressed as an esoteric-style anime character.

“I came for the art vendors, cosplayers and the vibes,” Villeda said. “I love collecting things and I thought it’d be fun to check out the stalls.”

As one of the biggest Weeks of Welcome events, CougarCon brings together art vendors, cosplayers, anime enthusiasts and gamers to participate in a variety of activities.

“I’ve loved watching anime since 2018 and I’ve been looking forward to attending Cougar Con since I saw it on a flyer this summer,” said pre-nursing freshman Yuridia Covarrubias.

Many students like computer science and pre-nursing freshman Nana Boateng stopped by only to see other cosplayers.

Boatend herself was dressed as Megumi from Jujutsu Kaisen.

Cosplayers, roleplayers

Nutrition senior Zahra Haque, who was dressed in flowing robes and a golden sunburst circlet drew excited compliments from fellow fans.

“I’m dressed as Sunday, a character from the game ‘Honkai: Star Rail’,” Haque said. “After playing his character, I feel like many of his personality traits really resonated with me. It took me two years to finally invest in a cosplay, and I’m so glad I finally took the opportunity.”

A student sporting a monkey onesie layered with a purple cape was dressed as the wizard monkey from Balloons Tower Defense, a game from the Cool Math website.

“I’ve been coming every year ever since my first CougarCon in my freshman year, where I found my favorite clubs and met many of my friends,” said economics major James Learn.

Surrounded by students wielding large padded bats, psychology senior Wesley Stivers was instructing students to participate in live action role-play.

“This club is primarily for UA students, but also non-members can come or non-students can come in, fight whenever they want as well,” Stivers said. “The majority of what we do has been sparring with padded weapons, like short swords, spears, bows, shields, long swords.”

Gaming community

Computer information systems senior Garek Gratzer has served as the president of Coog Gaming for the past two years. He first joined the club to compete in the game Counter-Strike, where he qualified to lead as team captain. Now, he continues to bring gamers together at CougarCon.

“It’s been a lot of work for the past couple of years, but I’ve found it very rewarding,” Gratzer said. “Having a space for gamers and esports is something a campus needs, and it’s awesome that UH is embracing it. It’s also been great for finding professional opportunities I’m passionate about.”

Biology senior Ricardo Abel Rios said that after a relationship breakup, his friends convinced him to go out and play Pokémon cards, which provided him with a sense of community.

“The community is really important because it helps build a foundation for getting to know people and for making connections,” Rios said. “It’s been really important for me to join clubs and have fun with everyone.”