On the week of March 21-25, Keep It Native Week was held on campus by Senior Jolene Anderson, as part of her SLE. A variety of activities were hosted throughout the week, all in part to raise awareness and educate others on the cultural aspects as well as some troubles many Native Americans face today as well as in the past that still have last consequences to this day
On the first day of the week, Jolene and guest speaker, Sheela Bearfoot talked about the
differences between recognized and unrecognized tribes, including some local ones. Some other things mentioned were how tribes can get recognized as well as unrecognized.
On the second day, many students dawned red as Jolene and guest speaker Hadezbahbrisa Benally spoke about missing and murdered indigenous girls.
This topic included many different statistics and what causes so many girls and women to become missing or murdered overall.
On the third day, Jolene provided the participants with frybread, which was served with powdered sugar and
honey but could also be eaten alone or as a taco-styled meal. She also gave a quick speech about the history of frybread.
On the fourth day, a small activity was hosted where many students participated in the creation of a banner to represent the lives lost at the boarding schools many
indigenous people were sent to in the past,
with the number still is changing due to the vast majority of the schools still being unchecked. Along with this, many students wore the color orange.
The final day was tied the whole week up
neatly
with a direct look into Navajo culture through a live performance by her uncle, which included small intervales of him talking more about his culture and how much of it was lost throughout the years, but was slowly getting regained.
Overall, the whole week was a huge success, with many of the fun but informative activities helping more students on campus learn more about the different Native American cultures.