Ongwe’hoñ:wehkah Smoke Dancers open Laker Launch

Laker Launch looked a little different this year as this event welcomed incoming students to the start of the academic year while honoring the ancestral lands of the Onondaga Nation, Firekeepers of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.

Chris Thomas (Onondaga) and the Ongwe’hoñ Smoke Dancers shared their knowledge and culture with students through an educational and engaging presentation on various Haudenosaunee dances and their significance.

Kimberly Fuqua (Lumbee, second from left in photo), assistant dean of students, and Corie Kolbach (Mohawk, second from right), director of advisement, opened the ceremony with a land acknowledgement and a discussion of the Haudenosaunee origins and meaning of the word “Oswego.” The name is understood to mean “the pouring out place,” “place of the flowing out” or “the mouth of the stream,” and originally referred to the location where the Oswego River flows into Lake Ontario.

This year’s Laker Launch provided an opportunity not only to welcome the newest Lakers, but also to deepen a collective understanding of the Indigenous history and cultural significance of the land on which SUNY Oswego stands.

Campus officials look forward to continuing to build meaningful partnerships with Indigenous communities and creating opportunities for cultural education, connection and collaboration that enrich the SUNY Oswego campus community.

-- Submitted by the Office of the Dean of Students