At 11 a.m. on Oct 14, a team from Emporia State’s Intercultural Center gathered on the Memorial Union patio beside Wooster Lake to perform a crafts activity in honor of Indigenous Peoples Day. At this first ever celebration of indigenous heritage, attendees listened to an acknowledgement of indigenous tribes’ claim to the land upon which Emporia State was built. 

Percy Holt, coordinator of BRIDGE and the Intercultural Center, announced in front of Wooster Lake that the ESU grounds previously belonged to various indigenous tribes and held up a plaque created to signify this fact. Holt believes that ESU has needed a tangible acknowledgement of the tribes’ claim to the land. 

“Emporia State has the land acknowledgement on their website, and then it’s said at every theatre show, but I noticed that there’s no physical showing of the land acknowledgement,” said Holt. “I wanted to have like a physical version of it on campus, that way students could come by and see it in person, and I just feel like moving it from an online space kind of solidifies its presence.”

The Intercultural Center initially planned to perform both the activity and acknowledgement outside. However, the cold weather drove the group indoors to the Memorial Union’s Phi Kappa Phi Room. Holt said that their organization is equipped to accommodate such changes. 

“With the work that we do, we kind of are used to changes happening,” Holt said. “We’re used to having to adjust and work with people, and it was definitely a lot colder than we expected it to be outside, and so having to move inside was fine.”

While indoors, attendees created small “medicine wheels,” which are symbols of healing to indigenous peoples throughout North America. The participants used plastic circles crossed into four quadrants and added symbolic pieces of string in black, white, yellow and red.

“A lot of indigenous practices are about being connected, not only with yourself, but with Mother Earth and your environment around you,” said Holt. “I feel like medicine wheels were a good start to kind of getting people open to the idea that we are not singular in our time here. Human beings are a part of the circle of life, just like all the other animals that we learn about growing up.”

The medicine wheel is only one aspect of the indigenous cultures that the Intercultural Center is interested in exploring. The organization is hoping to continue to celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day annually, and the team is considering ways to expand the event and enrich the experience for students.