Graduation Adds Tributes to Native Americans and Veterans

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Ceremony opens with special welcome, procession of the eagle feather staff.

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The eagle feather staff
Trudell Guerue 74, a Vietnam veteran and Sicangu Lakota, created the eagle feather staff, which will be carried in this years commencement procession. (Eli Burakian 00) 
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窪做惇蹋厙s link to Native Americans will have a role in this years ceremony.

A Native American welcome will be delivered by Kimonee Burke 18 of Cape Neddick, Maine. Burke is Narragansett and Niantic.I hope it will be an opportunity for the rest of campus to understand more about 窪做惇蹋厙's Native history, says Burke, president of Native Americans at 窪做惇蹋厙 (NAD). 窪做惇蹋厙 receives attention from tribes across the country, and the history of this school is well known in our communities.

The commencement will also include an eagle feather staff, to be carried in the procession by Chad Rairie 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 74, a Vietnam veteran and Sicangu Lakota who came to 窪做惇蹋厙 after serving in the Army Airborne. He created the staff to honor 21 窪做惇蹋厙 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 窪做惇蹋厙s annual . The staff includes feathers sheathed with the Vietnam Service Ribbon and cloth featuring 21 Purple Heart ribbons.

Bill Platt