The Saint

Story by Dr. Linda Keway and Brigid Avery

For the third year in a row, students, staff, and faculty embarked on a cultural learning trip to the home of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians. The trip was from Friday, October 13 to Monday, October 16, 2023. 

I’m Dr. Keway, a member of LTBBO and a professor at Aquinas College. I, along with Brigid Avery of the Aquinas College Advantage Center served as the trip’s coordinators and advisors. The group was greeted at the LTBBO Government Center by Tribal Chairperson Regina Gasco Bentley, Vice Chairperson Stella Kay, Executive Director Phil Harmon, and Eric Hemenway, Director of Repatriation, Archives and Record. They also prepared a traditional meal for us of delicious corn soup, fried bread, squash, fish, and wild rice. Chi Miigwech to them for this wonderful meal and for leading us in prayer. 

The trip was a collaboration between Campus Ministry and the Advantage Center with support from TRIO SSS with the purpose of engaging with the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians. Our guide for the weekend was Eric Hemenway who took us to locations throughout northern Michigan that held spiritual, historic, and sometimes traumatic significance to the tribe and the Anishinaabe people.

Mr. Hemenway served as our guide for the weekend, first visiting the area of the former Harbor Springs Holy Childhood Boarding School. He shared the history of the boarding school as well as the 800-mile canoe trip that left Harbor Springs for Washington DC in 1835 to convince Congress to allow the Odawa people to remain in Northern Michigan. Other tribes were being forcibly removed to Oklahoma and Kansas. The group then traveled to Greensky Indian Mission where tribal leaders historically gathered.

A service project was postponed due to weather conditions.  

The group also traveled to Cross Village and Mackinac Island where Mr. Hemenway and I shared the history of the areas and the significance to the Anishinaabe, and in particular, the Odawa people. The Island is a Sacred place to Anishinaabe people and many believe it to be a place of origin.  Our group visited the “Be Still” bronze sculpture which features a Native American spirit of peace alongside an eagle, lion, and turtle. The group also toured the Biddle House Anishinaabe Museum and hiked to Arch Rock learning more about the history and culture of the Anishinaabe people.  

“What an impressive group of students, and what an exemplary experience. This kind of experiential mission-aligned, justice-centered program is exactly what Aquinas College is all about.” – President Alicia Cordoba