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Student proposes Native American dress for graduation

Submitted Photo Gowanda High School senior Tia Thompson, left, approached the school board with a proposal to give Native American students the choice to wear traditional clothing for graduation. She is pictured here with her brother and his friend, who assisted her in her presentation.

GOWANDA — Gowanda High School Senior Tia Thompson may be the first woman in her family to receive her diploma while wearing her traditional Native American dress.

Gowanda High School Principal Rebecca Moraites introduced Thompson to the Gowanda Board of Education at the beginning of their recent meeting. Moraites explained that Thompson approached her with an idea in September, and since then has been meeting with Moraites every other week to discuss it and plan a presentation. She then turned the meeting over to Thompson, who introduced herself to the board.

Thompson explained that she grew up on the Cattaraugus Reservation and attended Gowanda Central School from second through sixth grade before transferring to Lake Shore Central School for grades seven through 10. “Gowanda is a more reasonable distance from home, and I saw more academic growth upon returning to Gowanda Central School,” Thompson said of her 11th grade year. A four-year varsity lacrosse athlete and two-year nursing student at BOCES LoGuidice Center, Thompson is looking forward to attending college for a career in nursing.

“I speak on behalf of current and future students of Gowanda Central School,” she said.

“My purpose in being here tonight is to receive approval for Native American students to have a choice to wear the traditional attire to graduation.”

Through a visual presentation, Thompson discussed Gowanda’s “complex and intertwined relationship with Native American people,” a relationship that cannot be discussed without including the Thomas Indian Boarding School. “It is a blatant reminder of the trauma that Native American people endured at that time,” Thompson stated. “Their identities as indigenous people were lost.” She noted that when the school closed in the 1950s, most of the students were transferred to Gowanda Central School.

“In Native American culture, certain clothing should be worn to milestone events,” Thompson explained. She referenced her brother and his friend, who both attended the meeting to illustrate Thompson’s points. “By wearing traditional outfits to graduation, native students are honoring and remembering their living elders and ancestors who lost their identities as native people while attending boarding schools. This also symbolizes that Native American people can be both educated and traditional, a mission that was unheard of before, during and after the boarding school era.”

Thompson noted that 26% of Gowanda students are of native descent and 34% of the Class of 2020 have Native American heritage. “This brings a special diversity to Gowanda Central School that many other districts do not have,” she pointed out.

She then explained that Gowanda would not be the only area district to give students this choice, as Akron, Lake Shore and Salamanca high schools all approve traditional clothing for graduation. In her presentation, she explained that the traditional female dress includes a dress or skirt, leggings, moccasins and an optional yoke/collar, cuffs and crown. For young men, the traditional dress includes a ribbon shirt, breechcloth, leggings, moccasins and an optional headdress. She said that these outfits would be worn instead of a cap and gown, not underneath them, and that school staff would have the opportunity to approve outfits before the commencement ceremony.

Thompson concluded her presentation by explaining the personal importance of this choice, as well as its implications for past and future graduates. “I would do it for my mother, who never walked a graduation stage; my grandmother, an alumni, who did not have a choice; and my great-grandmother, who was a Thomas Indian survivor. All three of these women could see me walk across Hillis Field wearing my traditional regalia,” Thompson said tearfully. “You can make this possible by approving the choice for Native American students to practice a timeless tradition, one that was taken from them but can be given back starting now.”

Members of the school board thanked Thompson for her presentation. Mark Nephew, board president, explained that Thompson’s proposal would be on the agenda for the next board meeting for discussion and approval. The next meeting of the Gowanda Board of Education is today at 6:30 p.m. in the middle school library.

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