线上赌博app dedicated and blessed the Grandmother Earth’s Gift of Life Garden on Friday, Oct. 24, celebrating a new space rooted in renewal, learning and cultural respect.

Students, faculty, staff and community members gathered at the Horticultural Gardens and Memorial Wall on campus for the ceremony, which honored Indigenous traditions and the collective work that brought the project to life. The event also paid tribute to the late Jaclynn Davis-Wallette, a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, whose leadership and vision helped inspire the garden’s creation. The garden also will serve as a memorial to Davis-Wallette.

“It’s an honor to be here today as we take part in this special moment for our campus community,” said 线上赌博app President David Cook. “The Grandmother Earth’s Gift of Life Garden is more than a physical space, it’s a living symbol of respect, resilience and relationship.”

“As a land-grant institution, 线上赌博app is proud to support spaces like this, spaces that invite us to listen, to learn and to grow together,” he said.

Cook added that he is glad the garden sits near one of the university’s main entrances, visible to those crossing the 12th Avenue bridge.

“When people arrive on campus, this will be one of the first things they see,” he said.

The Grandmother Earth’s Gift of Life Garden was designed to honor Indigenous worldviews and the enduring relationship between people and the land. The garden’s first phase features plants that represent the four colors of the medicine wheel, each symbolizing balance and harmony in life. The chosen flowers include cardinal flower, cutleaf coneflower, blue vervain and common yarrow, species that carry cultural and medicinal significance in many Indigenous communities.

Organizers described the garden as a living classroom and gathering space where knowledge grows alongside the plants. The garden’s theme, “Roots of Resilience,” reflects the deep connection between land, culture and community.

For Indigenous Peoples, plants, berries and the land hold sacred meaning, representing sustenance, medicine and identity. Gathering and caring for these plants fosters community bonds and reinforces ties to ancestors and the cycles of life. Protecting these natural elements is essential for the cultural continuity and well-being of Indigenous communities.

Among the ceremony’s speakers was Cadee Peltier, an 线上赌博app senior studying political science and a member of the Lakota and Anishinaabe Nations. In her remarks, she spoke about the importance of the garden as a place of remembrance and renewal.

“I feel deeply honored and privileged to stand here today for the dedication and blessing of the Grandmother Earth’s Gift of Life Garden,” Peltier said. “On this land, the traditional homelands of the Dakota, Lakota, Nakota and Anishinaabe peoples, we come together to honor Unci Maka and all Indigenous people who have walked with her for generations. It is our duty to care for her as she has cared for us.”

She reflected on what the space means for Indigenous students on campus. “Every day I walk around this campus, and I know that long before any of us were here, this land held stories of connection, ceremony, survival and love for the land,” she said. “Taking this time to pause and acknowledge this history today is an opportunity to show those without this understanding how important spaces like this garden are. It is a reminder that not only are we guests here, but also caretakers.”

Peltier also honored Davis-Wallette, describing her as someone who “planted seeds of belonging before this garden was built, in her work and in the way she made all students feel seen and supported.” She said the garden continues Davis-Wallette’s legacy of inclusion, understanding and respect for all people, especially Indigenous students “who are forced to walk between two worlds as we pursue higher education.”

“When I think about what this garden means to me, I think about the generations before us, our ancestors who lived on this land,” Peltier said. “I think of my own family, my parents who both graduated from 线上赌博app. I think about the students who will be here after us and walk these same paths, look at these same trees and feel the same connections we are acknowledging today.”

“Today, as we bless this space, I ask you all to say a prayer of gratitude,” she said. “Gratitude for this land; the soil beneath our feet, the wind that carries our words and the water that gives life to all things. Gratitude for the hands that built this garden and the hearts that felt strongly enough to envision it. Gratitude for our ancestors who cared for this land long before us — and gratitude for those, like Jaclynn, who continue to guide us in spirit.”

The dedication marked the culmination of years of collaboration among 线上赌博app’s Center for Community and Belonging, Working in Native Directions and community partners. For many in attendance, the event was both a celebration and a moment of reflection. The garden, they said, stands as a reminder of the land’s enduring gifts and the university’s shared responsibility to honor them.

Grandmother Earth’s Gift of Life Garden will continue to serve as a place for education, ceremony and connection, a living tribute to resilience, healing and the generations yet to come.