We encourage you to find at least 5 of the following, more is of course better!
- While you can probably identify the flags of many nations around the world, can you also identify the flags of Indigenous nations here in North America? Find a flag or symbol that represents a Native community (hint, we made it easy and placed some around Walker building).
- The first thing Columbus did when he arrived in the Western hemisphere (he first landed in the Caribbean and never actually set foot in what is now the USA) was to give places new names. This was the start of a process of erasing Native names from the land that continues to this day (All my Relations Podcast 2019). Find a place, road or building on campus that is (are) named with an Indigenous name/word. Which language(s) does that name come from?
- Visit the Donald W. Hamer Center for Maps and Geospatial Information (Pattee Library) and explore some maps that highlight the history and legacy of Native Americans (the students and staff that work there are ready to help, M-F 9-5pm).
- Many Native groups share a creation story that revolves around an animal that can be found on University park campus. What is this creation story? Find this animal.
- Find a piece of artwork by an Indigenous artist (hint, try the Pattee-Paterno library)
- Visit the section of the library that contains books on Native American Studies.
- Find a plant(s) used by Native American people as medicine.
- Find a plant(s) used by Native American people as food.
- One of the sports played by Penn State athletes has been played in Pennsylvania since long before European contact. Figure out which sport, and take your selfie with a piece of equipment used to play this sport, a poster of the Penn State team, or one of the athletes who plays this sport for Penn State. While you are at it, ask them if they know their sport’s origin.
- The Penn State student farm has recently ceded land to the Indigenous Faculty and Staff Alliance. Visit the land and think about other ways Penn State can achieve #LandBack (if you ask a volunteer on the student farm to help you find this land, it is where Indigenous squash were grown this past summer).