Gabriel Ardila looks down at his eagle feather he received from a family member after graduating at the 2023 Native Education Graduation Celebration on May 21, 2023, at McNary High School. (Laura Tesler/Special to Salem Reporter)
The 2023 Salem-Keizer Native Education graduation celebration was similar to many others in the sense that the McNary High School auditorium was filled with happy families waiting for their graduate to walk, and graduates making last minute adjustments to outfits and hair while waiting to proceed in. There, the similarity ended.
The graduates did not wear gowns, and although every graduate dressed according to personal taste, tribal regalia was prevalent and proudly worn by many of the students. Many of the graduates also wore ribbon skirts or shirts and other tribal apparel. Graduates sported long braids wrapped with tribally significant materials. Beaded moccasins were seen peeping out from underneath skirts.
Graduates get ready to get in line for the procession into the McNary High School auditorium at the 2023 Native Education Graduation Celebration on May 21, 2023. (Laura Tesler/Special to Salem Reporter)Zeta Surette Sulzmann, Willowa Band, Clearwater Band Nez Perce, and Ft. McDermott Northern Paiute, sings the national anthem in the McNary High School auditorium at the 2023 Native Education Graduation Celebration on May 21, 2023. (Laura Tesler/Special to Salem Reporter)
After lots of happy chattering and laughing, Native Education staff began to herd the 52 graduates into a line to proceed into the auditorium from the cafeteria behind the Confederated Tribes of the Grande Ronde Color Guard who led them into the auditorium. Then, the drum circle Turquoise sang and drummed a song for the graduates, and the ceremony commenced with all present swelling with pride to see the young graduates lined up before them, their futures bright.
As each graduate crossed the stage, they were presented with a Pendleton wool stole, and were given a beaded simulation eagle feather (real eagle feathers cannot legally be given unless inherited or possessed by the graduate’s family) and were able to shake the hand of the two school board members that were present.
Afterwards, the cafeteria was loud with the sound of happy families relaxing with the graduates, snapping pictures, laughing, eating cake, and consuming heaping piles of delicious fry bread and a chili bar for all to enjoy and socialize.
Savanna Rilatos, Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, shows off her beaded moccasins her cousin made for her at the 2023 Native Education Graduation Celebration at McNary High School on May 21, 2023. Rilatos graduated from Brown University. (Laura Tesler/Special to Salem Reporter)A member of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde’s Veteran Color Guard prepares to start the procession into the auditorium at the 2023 Native Education Graduation Celebration on May 21, 2023, at McNary High School. (Laura Tesler/Special to Salem Reporter)A staff member of the Native Education Program drapes a stole on a graduate at the 2023 Native Education Graduation Celebration on May 21, 2023, at McNary High School. (Laura Tesler/Special to Salem Reporter)Ashley Carson Cottingham, Salem-Keizer School Board Chair, delivers the congratulatory message at the 2023 Native Education Graduation Celebration at McNary High School on May 21, 2023. (Laura Tesler/Special to Salem Reporter)An example of some of the beautiful and unique tribal regalia worn by graduates at the 2023 Native Education Graduation Celebration on May 21, 2023, at McNary High School. (Laura Tesler/Special to Salem Reporter)Graduates watch their cohorts and wait for their names to be called at the 2023 Native Education Graduation Celebration on May 21, 2023, at McNary High School. Lillian Tatenda Besa, Ahtna Athabaskan, left, was awarded over $260,000 in scholarships and will be debt free for her first four years at Lewis and Clark college where she will study Biology or Chemistry. (Laura Tesler/Special to Salem Reporter)Gabriel Ardila gets a big hug of congratulations after exiting the stage at the 2023 Native Education Graduation Celebration on May 21, 2023, at McNary High School. (Laura Tesler/Special to Salem Reporter)Ashley Carson Cottingham, Salem-Keizer School Board Chair, and Karina Guzmán Ortiz shake the hands of graduates on stage at McNary High School at the 2023 Native Education Graduation Celebration on May 21, 2023. (Laura Tesler/Special to Salem Reporter)
Graduates watch their cohorts and wait for their names to be called at the 2023 Native Education Graduation Celebration on May 21, 2023, at McNary High School. (Laura Tesler/Special to Salem Reporter) Trejen Yellow Elk’s mother waits to present him with an eagle feather on stage at the 2023 Native Education Graduation Celebration on May 21, 2023, at McNary High School. (Laura Tesler/Special to Salem Reporter)Trejen Yellow Elk, Oglala Sioux Tribe of the Pine Ridge Reservation, is wrapped in a traditional star quilt by his parents on stage at the 2023 Native Education Graduation Celebration on May 21, 2023, at McNary High School. (Laura Tesler/Special to Salem Reporter)Alexis Faith Large-Cooley, Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, displays her regalia at the 2023 Native Education Graduation Celebration at McNary High School on May 21, 2023. (Laura Tesler/Special to Salem Reporter)Zeta Surette Sulzmann, Willowa Band, Clearwater Band Nez Perce, and Ft. McDermott Northern Paiute waits to enter the auditorium at McNary High School auditorium at the 2023 Native Education Graduation Celebration on May 21, 2023. (Laura Tesler/Special to Salem Reporter)A graduate is presented with a hug and an eagle feather at the 2023 Native Education Graduation Celebration on May 21, 2023, at McNary High School. (Laura Tesler/Special to Salem Reporter)The drum group Turquoise provided songs and drumming for the 2023 Native Education Graduation Celebration on May 21, 2023, at McNary High School. (Laura Tesler/Special to Salem Reporter)Relief was the biggest emotion after finishing graduation at the 2023 Native Education Graduation Celebration on May 21, 2023, at McNary High School. (Laura Tesler/Special to Salem Reporter)The McNary High School cafeteria was the perfect place to visit with friends and family and unwind after graduation at the 2023 Native Education Graduation Celebration on May 21, 2023. (Laura Tesler/Special to Salem Reporter)After graduation was a perfect time to relax and take good pictures with family and friends at 2023 Native Education Graduation Celebration on May 21, 2023, at McNary High School. (Laura Tesler/Special to Salem Reporter)The many trays of fresh fry bread were a welcome sight to the hungry crowd at the 2023 Native Education Graduation Celebration on May 21, 2023, at McNary High School. (Laura Tesler/Special to Salem Reporter)Trajen Yellow Elk, Oglala Sioux of the Pine Ridge Reservation, Lillian Tatenda Besa, Ahtna Athabaskan, and Dominic Butler, Cocopah, enjoy a candid moment 2023 Native Education Graduation Celebration on May 21, 2023, at McNary High School. (Laura Tesler/Special to Salem Reporter)
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Laura Tesler has lived in Salem, Oregon for 20 years and is originally from Flint, MI. Laura has been an underwater photographer for 15 years, and is an avid scuba diver. Topside, she has been taking photographs since age 12, and currently works on assignment for the Salem Reporter, and full time purchasing land for fish and wildlife habitat in the Willamette Valley. Laura attended Oregon State University, and has traveled extensively all over the world and the United States.
