On Wednesday, the Native American Student Association of Notre Dame (NASAND) and student government co-hosted a beading event in celebration of Native American Heritage Month. The event took place in the LaFortune Student Center’s newly unveiled Champions of Diversity Room and gave students the opportunity to learn more about Native American art and culture.
Throughout the month of November, NASAND hosted multiple events to honor Native American heritage, culminating in the beading event.
“Besides this beading event, we had a panel where we talked about land acknowledgements and what being Native is like,” NASAND president Jada Davis said. “We also had a drum and dance performance put together by David Martin. We haven’t had something like that in over a decade, so it was really cool.” 
Student government’s current director of diversity and inclusion: race and ethnicity, senior Luzolo Matundu, said that her goal for the year is to host at least one event with each racial umbrella group on campus. She said she hopes to highlight various cultures and collaborate with different groups of people through her efforts.
“I reached out to Jada and asked her if NASAND would be willing to have an event for Native American Heritage Month. I knew that would be really important,” Matundu said. “As student government, we also made sure to post a land acknowledgement and wish everyone a happy Native American Heritage Month on Instagram.”
After Davis decided that beading would be the most suitable activity, she worked alongside Matundu to plan, prepare for and advertise the event.
“I think there has been some tension between indigenous groups and the University. So we made sure that all of the information going out was accurate and that the posters we created were correct and reflective,” Davis said.
In addition to the beading activity, Davis and Matundu said they felt it was important to give attendants the opportunity to learn more about Native American culture and the significance of different Native art forms. They did so by showing several videos created by the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum which highlighted different Native art forms.
“I think the videos are important for showing different aspects of Native culture,” Matundu said. “It is great because you get to do something fun, the beading, while learning at the same time.” 
The event attracted over 20 students, giving the attendees an opportunity to connect with one another as they worked on their pieces.
Junior Tori Van Arsdale, the historian and social media representative of NASAND, said she chose to attend the event to represent Native American students and connect with other members of the community.
Many other students took the event as an opportunity to take a break from studying while simultaneously expanding their knowledge of Native American culture.
“I am here today because I felt like the beading could be a stress reliever before exams start, but also because I wanted to come to more events that appreciate different cultures and diversity at Notre Dame,” sophomore Sophia Torcelino said.
While learning more about the art of beading, several students expressed their newfound appreciation for the hard work that Native American artists put into their pieces.
“Doing it myself really makes me have a lot of respect for people who hand-craft things on the regular,” junior Serra Marquez said. 
Junior Emma Speyrer said she chose to attend the event because she believes the best way to grow as a world is by learning about other cultures.
Davis said her main goal with hosting the event is to introduce people to Native American culture and give people the opportunity to connect with one another.
“I’m hoping that students will begin to think more about Native people. We are a pretty small proportion of Notre Dame’s overall population, and so it is kind of easy to overlook us,” Davis said. “We have a lot of things to say, a lot of culture and a lot of beauty.”
NASAND, student government host beading event in celebration of Native American Heritage Month
The Native American Student Association of Notre Dame and student government co-hosted a beading event in the LaFortune Student Center’s newly unveiled Champions of Diversity Room.
