by Chrissy Dill
Staff writer
The SE student organization, Native American Council, has recently undergone a name change, now officially named the Native American Student Association, according to its president Joe Jefferson.
“The change came about because we wanted the Native American Council’s name to be more student-friendly,” said Jefferson. “We felt that because of the name, ‘council,’ some of the students didn’t really know what it was about.”
According to Jefferson, NASA was once a part of SE but was disbanded because of a lack of student membership. The change to the Native American Council allowed students and individuals from the community outside of campus to participate.
“Now the organization is just for students,” said Jefferson.
“NASA is a way for the Native students to come together and almost share our various cultures with the rest of the students, and it’s a way for the Native students to network with other Native or other students who are new to campus or new to the group.”
Because of the organization’s new student-friendly name making it more recognizable for students, its networking possibilities have increased.
“More colleges across Oklahoma have a NASA group rather than a council group,” said Jefferson. “So getting events together with other colleges is a definite possibility and one of the major goals of the newly formed NASA group.”
With the new name change come new goals for the student organization. “We plan to become more active, like a traditional student organization, but we also plan to do several cultural stuff in the future,” said Jefferson.
Since becoming NASA, the organization has already attained several accomplishments, according to Jefferson, the biggest being the Miss Indian SE Pageant, which was held Sept. 14.
“In the past as NAC, we more or less just elected our princess,” said Jefferson. “This year we had a full-on pageant,” he added, listing characteristics the pageant included such as modeling traditional native dress and talents that included flute playing, which the winner, Caley Wesberry, performed.
In addition to NASA’s recent endeavors, Jefferson said the organization plans to conduct various activities in the upcoming semester, which includes contributing a float or vehicle in the SE homecoming parade.
“The month of November will be a busy month for NASA,” said Jefferson, as it is Native American month. “We are teaming up with the Native American Student Success Center to share our various cultures with campus.”
According to Jefferson, a stickball demonstration on the lawn and a movie night where a native film will be showcased are some of the activities, all open to students and faculty, that will take place with the help of NASA.
For the spring semester, NASA is planning to continue its annual spring pow wow, said Jefferson, adding that the location is still undecided as of now.
Jefferson wishes to hold stickball demonstrations at the pow wow, since he and three members of the organization are starters for the Choctaw Nation stickball team that plays in the Mississippi Choctaw World Series of Stickball each year, he said.
Jefferson has held the title of NASA interim-president since mid-spring 2011. He has currently been appointed as the president-elect for the fall 2011 semester through spring 2012.
“Originally, I didn’t want to be president,” Jefferson said with a laugh, speaking of his assumed responsibility as interim president going from his position as vice president when a student stepped down.
He took on several duties with his new position, including running the spring pow wow, with some nervousness but was eventually able to get his feet under him as president, he said.
“Now, coming into the semester as the president for the full year, it’s like I’m a different person,” said Jefferson. “I know what is expected as president and what it takes to run the group to make it grow.”
As president of NASA, Jefferson has several goals of his own. “When I took over president, I began to team up with Chris Wesberry to see how we could increase our numbers,” he said. “That has been a goal of mine since I started.”
According to Jefferson, this fall semester NASA began with just five members and now has 15 and two faculty advisers, Wesberry and Dr. Deanna Williams.
“I still want to increase the numbers and eventually become one of the biggest organizations on campus,” he stated. Jefferson wishes to “continue to put together big events and make them spectacular,” like the spring
pow wow, he said.
NASA meets weekly every Wednesday at 5 p.m. in room 323 on the third floor of the Student Union.