Recognition for Indigenous Students Participating in Commencement 2021
In recognition and celebration of Indigenous students who are participating in the 2021 Commencement, students will receive custom-made stoles. The stoles will be made by the company Rezcreations, owned and operated by Carrie Chapman-Peters (Menominee). Rezcreations is located on the great land of the Menominee Nation, and is an established local community artist business. Chapman-Peters sews and beads, utilizing traditional designs and techniques with a contemporary vision. We appreciate this new Tribal partner for the 2021 commencement.
Stoles will be made from a Pendleton blanket donated by the First Nations Student Success Coordinator, Crystal Lepscier. The blanket was once part of the inventory at the Konkapot Lodge, a former hotel owned and operated by her Stockbridge-Munsee mother and family. This blanket, as many Pendleton blankets before, holds meaning in that it marks an honor and a story. As is common practice among First Nations students in higher education, the blanket will be made into stoles to honor our student’s achievements. The stoles will be edged with bias tape to enhance the colors on the blanket design, which are shades of green and brown.
UW-Green Bay has approximately 212 self-identified Indigenous students in undergraduate and graduate programs, 26 of whom will be graduation. Their presence and successes at UW-Green Bay help the University to enact their mission supportive of diversity and inclusion. Wisconsin is home to 12 First Nations communities including the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin, Forest County Potawatomi, Ojibwe Nation communities, Stockbridge-Munsee Band of the Mohicans, and the Brothertown Indian Nation.
Traditionally, the Multi-Ethnic Student Affairs (MESA) Office, with the aid of multicultural student organizations, has been able to offer graduates cultural stoles to express and represent their cultural heritage and pride during the UW-Green Bay commencement ceremony.
