{"id":25589,"date":"2026-04-22T11:53:54","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T19:53:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/?p=25589"},"modified":"2026-04-28T13:21:02","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T21:21:02","slug":"31st-annual-msu-powwow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/31st-annual-msu-powwow\/","title":{"rendered":"31st annual MSU powwow"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Members of Western\u2019s MSU and NICC executive members pose with powwow MC, Anthony Quenelle. | Photo courtesy of WOU Native Indigenous Culture Club<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

April 22, 2026 | Jaylin Emond-Hardin | Entertainment Editor<\/span><\/p>\n

In Native American cultures across the country, powwows are times of gathering, celebration and culture. The powwow put on by members of the Multicultural Student Union and Native Indigenous Culture Club executive boards brought this to campus for the 31st time in Western\u2019s history.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Planning for the powwow began in August of last year, when members of the MSU and NICC executive boards met every Monday to discuss the logistics that went into planning. By December, the powwow committee was formed and continued these weekly meetings to ensure that all the parts were coming together.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This year, the powwow was spearheaded by Cheydon Herkshan, the events director of MSU and president of NICC. A senior and a member of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, this event held special meaning for Herkshan.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is just such a beautiful event to be able to host, as a Native person,\u201d she said. \u201cBeing in an institution that has a 2% population of Indigenous students is a little disheartening sometimes, so it\u2019s amazing that I\u2019m able to plan an event like this.\u201d As of Fall term 2024, Western\u2019s enrollment of American Indian and Alaskan Native students was at 1.3%.<\/span><\/p>\n

The day before the powwow, members of MSU and NICC, as well as other volunteers, marked areas for vendors and drum groups, set up concessions and prepared the Wolves Athletic Center for the event.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The day of, vendors arrived at 9 a.m. to set up their tables, with Whipman Ed Goodell and Master of Ceremonies Anthony Quenelle arriving shortly after. This was Goodell\u2019s third year as Whipman at Western, though it is a role he has been in at various institutions for many years.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy wife introduced me to a man who she grew up with \u2026 he was one of the members of the Portland Indian community and he was the Whipman prior to me,\u201d Goodell said. \u201cGrowing up, he was one of the Elders, and then at some point, he decided he was getting old enough that he wanted to pass it on, and I was the one he chose to train, teach, mentor and show what it was that needed to be done.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Traditionally, Whipmen were appointed to encourage dancers to get up and dance, as well as help maintain proper etiquette among dancers and spectators during a powwow. While the title of Whipman is ceremonial today, it was the Whipman\u2019s or whip bearer\u2019s job to make sure dancers danced for every song they were obligated to dance to by tradition.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI do whatever I\u2019m asked to do, but that means taking care of a lot of ceremony,\u201d Goodell explained. \u201cI\u2019m here to kind of help and make sure it\u2019s taken care of in a good way.\u201d He then recounted a story when a man named Robert Van Pelt was trying to organize a powwow at the school he was attending, and was confused about the role of Whipman.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey said, \u2018Ed, he is the custodian of our ceremonies. He doesn\u2019t necessarily perform the ceremonies himself, but he is the one who takes care of them. He is the one who makes sure that we take care of them.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s the best thing for me is being able to be here for situations like this, where the young people are carrying on what we do. What we do as a community, as a people, to be able to develop,\u201d Goodell added. \u201cJust being able to watch our community grow, grow up and mature, have the younger ones caring and showing that they are paying attention to what the elders say and do, and how it\u2019s supposed to go.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Along with the roles of MC and Whipman, powwows traditionally have a host drum. This year, the intertribal group Turquoise Pride was honored with that responsibility, providing the central heartbeat that guided the dancers and brought the arena to life.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe originally didn\u2019t have a host drum,\u201d Herkshan said. \u201cWe had reached out to three different groups, and nobody had responded to us. But eventually, everything got figured out, and it was a good success.\u201d Other drum groups were also invited to perform, with two additional groups joining; together, the three groups shared the songs throughout the event. Turquoise Pride, however, was in charge of leading songs for the Grand Entry, Flag Song, Retreat Song and any honor and prayer songs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Doors opened at noon, with the first Grand Entry beginning at 1 p.m. Intertribal, round and exhibition dances followed, and a dinner break began at 5 p.m. During the break, Indian tacos were served, and a performance by Fuego Nativo de Las Am\u00e9ricas energized participants, showcasing vibrant traditional dance and music before the evening\u2019s events resumed. The second Grand Entry began at 7 p.m., marking the start of the evening\u2019s next session, with a dance lineup that mirrored the first half.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI want to give a really big shout-out to my Native Indigenous Culture Club. They helped extremely well. Every single one of them was a part of our powwow committee,\u201d Herkshan said. \u201cI would also like to shout out the Multicultural Student Union. Everybody on the (executive) team helped out tremendously.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Contact the author at howlentertainment@wou.edu<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

April 22, 2026 | Jaylin Emond-Hardin | Entertainment Editor In Native American cultures across the country, powwows are times of gathering, celebration and culture. The powwow put on by members of the Multicultural Student Union and Native Indigenous Culture Club executive boards brought this to campus for the 31st time in Western\u2019s history.\u00a0 Planning for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1645,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"31st annual MSU powwow","_seopress_titles_desc":"Organized by student leaders, the annual powwow creates space for Indigenous culture, connection and community on campus","_seopress_robots_index":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[10264,5311,4233,10265,3474,1178,987,1294,2475,1173,1606,4595,10269,3193,51,9262,6001,4291,1786,10271,10268,4762,10263,10267,2460,10266,6836,10260,10262,1391,4460,683,982,1816,6483,684,1556,608,10270,39,10261],"class_list":["post-25589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-10264","tag-america","tag-american","tag-august","tag-board","tag-campus","tag-celebration","tag-club","tag-community","tag-culture","tag-dance","tag-dancing","tag-drum","tag-event","tag-events","tag-executive","tag-flag","tag-gathering","tag-history","tag-host","tag-indian","tag-indigenous","tag-msu","tag-multicultural","tag-native","tag-nicc","tag-oregon-2","tag-pow","tag-powwow","tag-song","tag-songs","tag-student","tag-students","tag-union","tag-vendors","tag-western","tag-western-oregon","tag-western-oregon-university","tag-whipman","tag-wou","tag-wow"],"modified_by":"saragerrick","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1645"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25589"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25589\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25686,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25589\/revisions\/25686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}