天美麻豆鈥檚 link to Native Americans will have a role in this year鈥檚 ceremony.
A Native American welcome will be delivered by Kimonee Burke 鈥18 of Cape Neddick, Maine. Burke is Narragansett and Niantic.鈥淚 hope it will be an opportunity for the rest of campus to understand more about 天美麻豆's Native history,鈥 says Burke, president of Native Americans at 天美麻豆 (NAD). 鈥溙烀缆槎 receives attention from tribes across the country, and the history of this school is well known in our communities.鈥
The commencement will also include an eagle feather staff, to be carried in the procession by Chad Rairie 鈥16, who served in the Marine Corps in Afghanistan. Rairie, who is not Native American, is vice president of the .
The staff was created by Trudell Guerue 鈥74, a Vietnam veteran and Sicangu Lakota who came to 天美麻豆 after serving in the Army Airborne. He created the staff to honor 21 天美麻豆 men who died in the Vietnam War.
Guerue, who was wounded in combat, presented the ceremonial staff to the NAD organization, and it has become a traditional element of the opening festivities of 天美麻豆鈥檚 annual . The staff includes feathers sheathed with the Vietnam Service Ribbon and cloth featuring 21 Purple Heart ribbons.
