For more than three decades, NCSSM has celebrated Native American/American Indian culture with a powwow on the school's Durham campus. (photo: Brian Faircloth)
North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics will host its 33rd annual NCSSM Powwow celebrating American Indian culture on Saturday, Feb. 7, from noon until 5 p.m. on the school’s Durham campus. This family-friendly event featuring music, dance, arts, crafts, and food is open to the public for a nominal admission fee of $5 (kids 5 and under attend free). American Indian dancers, musicians and artists from throughout the Carolinas and Virginia will headline the powwow as they reaffirm intertribal brotherhood and sisterhood and share with the larger community the rich history and contemporary aspirations of Native American/American Indian people. The Master of Ceremony this year will be Kaya Littleturtle, of the Tuscarora tribe.
Powwows at NCSSM typically involve about 150 dancers and six drums. A Grand Entry of dancers dressed in traditional and modern dance regalia will begin the event. Host Drum will be War Paint, with Young Waters serving as Youth Host Drum. Head Male Dancer will be Lynkon Woodell, and Head Female Dancer will be Kenly McLaurin. Woodell and McLaurin are both of the Lumbee Tribe.
Attendees will be invited to participate in a social Round Dance and a Two-Step Dance, with explanations of the significance of the music and dance offered throughout the program. American Indian arts and crafts will also be on exhibit in the lobby of the PEC throughout the event.
The powwow takes place in the Charles R. Eilber Physical Education Center and will end with a closing song at approximately 5 p.m. Food trucks and concessions will be open throughout the event to purchase meals and snacks.
The History of NCSSM Powwow
NCSSM Powwow originated in 1992 with the school’s American Indian students as a way of promoting the school to the American Indian communities of North Carolina. Joe Liles, one of NCSSM’s founding faculty members (now retired) and a devoted supporter of American Indian culture, helped the school’s Native students form Akwe:kon (“all of us together” in the Mohawk language), a support group for the American Indian students on NCSSM’s campus. Liles coordinated the annual powwow alongside members of Akwe:kon until his retirement in 2008. Akwe:kon continues to support American Indian students at NCSSM and partners with the school’s Office of Admissions to host the powwow each year.
