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WINS hosts annual powwow
BY APRIL FEHLING
Photo courtesy of Jacqueline Corbett
Summer 2007 WINS students Danielle Hill and Lamar Iron Horse |
The AU quad pulsed to the beat of Native American drums on June 23 at the annual powwow hosted by AU’s Washington Internships for Native Students (WINS) program. More than 100 people attended the event, held in honor of the 70 students participating in the summer internship program.
Colorfully dressed in traditional regalia adorned with fringe, feathers, and bells, dancers of all ages stepped and spun in the sun, accompanied by local powwow drum groups—the White Oak Singers and the Northern Boys.
The annual powwow provided an opportunity for relaxation for the WINS students, who come to Washington for a rigorous summer program of full-time internships and evening course work. The students, who hail from diverse Native American nations across the United States, intern with government agencies and nonprofit organizations from May through July. The event “gives me a break to come back to the powwow world where you can relax,” said Lamar Iron Horse, a student interning with the Department of Agriculture. “Things slow down, and you can take it all in.”
The students reenergized late in the day with a feast of halibut and salmon contributed by Alaskan Rep. Don Young, who flew in 65 pounds in honor of the students.
Many of Saturday’s attendees were WINS alumni now working in the D.C. area with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Department of Health and Human Services, the National Congress of American Indians, and other agencies and organizations. Several are serving on the WINS Advisory Board, which hopes to establish a more formal network of alumni to assist students in their professional development.
Now in its 14th year, the 2007 program opened in May with an alumni panel to encourage students to take advantage of the network of Native American professionals available to WINS students in Washington.
WINS students “aren’t here to write policy or legislation, but we want them to learn that someday they can,” said WINS 2000 alum Jeremy Marshall, chair of the advisory board and a staffer with Health and Human Services’ Office of Intergovernmental Affairs.
One of the highlights of the afternoon was an impromptu dance competition, when the male students donned women’s shawls and made their best efforts trying out the women’s dance steps, as the female students howled from the sidelines. “At least they’re kind of on beat,” said Shana Bearhand, tribal liaison for the Federal Communications Commission. Married to a WINS alum, Bearhand has been attending the WINS powwow since 1997. “This is the best turnout we’ve seen in ten years,” she said.
As the day wound down, the students capped their day of traditional dancing and song with another time-honored American tradition: “We’re going to the Cheesecake.”
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