On May 9, Dartmouth’s Native American Program hosted the 54th Annual Dartmouth College Powwow on the Green, the theme of which was “Honoring the Women Who Carry Us.” Events included the War Cry Contest, the Round Dance, Men’s and Women’s Traditional and General Dances and more.
Around 1,500 people attended this year’s Powwow, including community members and friends of the Native American community from the Upper Valley and across the country, according to NAP director Adria Brown ’15.
“Powwow is an opportunity for people to come together and share their cultures with each other,” Brown said in an interview with The Dartmouth. “It is really meant for everyone to feel welcome and included.”
Native and non-Native students and faculty alike were encouraged to enjoy fry bread tacos, buy from vendors and watch the performances. According to NAP community and leadership development program coordinator Carley Malloy, many of the staff and performers were from nearby tribes, including the Mashantucket Pequot and Aquinnah Wampanoag nations.
“Powwow really brings in the community from here and afar,” Malloy said. “I think it creates a home away from home for people.”
Malloy explained that she spent the past year working with Powwow chair Kailani Sirois ’27 and vice chair Elijah Butler ’26 to organize travel plans for performers and vendors, arrange the schedule and plan this year’s theme.
Malloy said the theme felt especially significant because Powwow fell on Mother’s Day weekend and the same week as the National Awareness Day for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives.
“We wanted to really think about how to tie those pieces together and honor women in a way that felt respectful,” she said.
While Powwow usually includes a Mother’s Day Honoring, the Committee felt this year’s celebration should place special emphasis on the women in the community, Brown said.
“We were thinking about the role of matriarchs in Indigenous communities,” Brown said. “Many of us come from matriarchal societies, so [the committee] wanted to center that idea of honoring the many generations of women who have brought people into the community.”
Lily Aspen ’27, a member of the Sugpiaq Alutii nation from the New Jersey shore, and a NAP student intern, said they enjoy the joy and community of Powwow each year.
“It’s a source of representation for us, especially at Dartmouth, where there’s around 200 to 250 Native Americans at Dartmouth, and some people don’t even know about us,” they said.
Abigail Burgess ’25, a member of the Mi’kmaq tribe of the First Nations in Nova Scotia, Canada, added that the diversity of Dartmouth’s Powwow makes the event unique from other Powwow celebrations.
“Powwows are usually very local,” she explained. “What’s interesting about this Powwow is that Dartmouth has such a diverse Native community, and a lot of people’s families come. It makes for a very diverse range of Indigenous folks.”
Burgess said she has sold her handmade beadwork at every Dartmouth Powwow since her freshman year. She also served as this year’s head of student vending.
The event began with an entrance ceremony featuring the American, Dartmouth, veterans’ and Eagle Staff flags. The Grand Entry was led by the Head Man and Head Woman — Albert Zamora and Althnageebah Myles, both of whom are members of local tribes — who were followed by Powwow performers and this year’s Powwow ambassador Samantha Pehl ’27.
Pehl is the third “official Dartmouth Powwow Ambassador,” a role that she said is “still transforming.” This year, she worked alongside the chairs to plan Powwow and traveled to various local Powwows over the summer 2025 to recruit vendors, dancers and drummers. She also led the Native Dancing Nation Society, which performed at the Powwow, throughout the winter and spring terms this year.
“I think Powwow is a really great way for people to celebrate and appreciate the culture that is Native here to the Americas and the homelands that Dartmouth is situated upon,” Pehl said.
Pehl, who lives in North Carolina, is part of the Cherokee Wolf Clan in Oklahoma. She said attending the Dartmouth Powwow in 2022 was her first interaction with the Native community at the College.
“Even though I wasn’t a student yet, I really felt the love of the community,” she said. “I just knew that if I was able to get in, this is a community I would definitely want to give back to, and that’s what I’ve tried to do in my role and will continue to do even as I pass down the crown.”
The Powwow also included performances from drum groups and dance groups.
“Once you hear the drums, you really feel it throughout your whole body,” Malloy said. “It is so grounding to hear the drums and the singing each year on the green.”
Other traditions include Senior Sweetgrass, which honors graduating Native students, and the potato dance, in which participants pair up and balance a potato between their heads while dancing.
“I tend to cry during [Senior Sweetgrass] because it’s really emotional to see how far people have come,” Brown said.
