May 27, 2005
Student and tribe to raise welcome pole
What: Welcome Pole Raising Ceremony
When: Friday, June 10, 2 p.m.
Where: South Puget Sound Community College, outside Student Union
Building
OLYMPIA -The students of South Puget Sound Community College will hold a welcome pole raising ceremony on the college campus on Friday, June 10 at 2 p.m.
The students commissioned the creation of the Welcome Figure for the Olympia campus as a means of acknowledging the rich connections between the community college and the Squaxin Island Tribe.
For example, the college and the Squaxin Island Tribe enjoy a unique agreement that allows the college's anthropology staff to act as the tribe's anthropologists in their traditional territories. The college and tribe have jointly excavated an archaeological site located in the Mud Bay area of Olympia under this agreement.
The Welcome Figure is made out of old-growth red cedar and was carved by Master Artist and Coast Salish Woodcarver Andrea Wilbur-Sigo. According to Wilbur-Sigo, Welcome Figures would stand with out-stretched arms outside Squaxin Island Tribe villages to welcome visitors and to look out over and protect the land and people.
The figure will be raised and stand outside the college's Student Union Building.