It brings me great pleasure to serve the Miami Tribe and Miami University communities as the director of the Myaamia Center. As we enter the 2022 New Year, we find ourselves at the cusp of another new COVID surge and an opportunity to learn yet another letter in the Greek alphabet (Omicron). As I prepare these remarks, I learn that the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma has yet again been forced to change plans for our much-anticipated mid-winter stomp dance and storytelling event for the end of January at our tribal headquarters in Miami, Oklahoma.
Despite these ongoing setbacks, we have several milestones worth acknowledging. 2021 marked the twentieth birthday of the Myaamia Center, thirty years of the Myaamia Heritage Award and a hundred students who have graduated under the Myaamia Heritage Program. Our continued growth provides us an opportunity to reflect as we enter the New Year, where we will continue our celebration by marking fifty years of the relationship between the Miami Tribe and Miami University.