WCU Cherokee Center

10/22/2026

Siyo!

The WCU Native American Student Organization, Digali'i, will hold their annual Honoring Indigenous Peoples Day event on campus next Friday, October 30th, 2026. The time of the event is scheduled from 10AM - 3PM with an official event schedule being posted tomorrow.

We have a great line up so far but if you or anyone you know in the community is interested in helping to support the event by speaking, presenting, story telling, or any other related cultural representation, please feel free to reach out to us to get scheduled into the line up.

We are also accepting food and retail vendors as well. You can reach out directly to:

[email protected]
[email protected]

10/08/2026

Shout out to Digali’i for holding it down in the 114th Cherokee Indian Fair Parade!

Thank y’all for taking the time to represent the Cherokee Center, Digali’i and WCU, we greatly appreciate it!

10/05/2026

Great things happening at the WCU Cherokee Center and more to come! 💜💛

For the first time in more than 20 years, Western Carolina University's Cherokee Center is offering community enrichment and continuing education courses.

10/01/2026

It was a honor to help support the WCU Native American Student Organization, Digali’i, in recognizing Every Child Matters/ Orange Shirt Day today, on September 30th. 🧡

Shared below is information from one of the flyers from the event:

“In Canada, it was declared a National Day of Truth and Reconciliation and in the US, it is the National day of Remembrance of US Boarding Schools.

We wear Orange because Phyllis Webstad shared her own story of how she went to St. Joseph Mission Indian Residential School with a new Orange shirt her grandmother bought her and then it had been stripped away from her and she never seen it again. This then became a symbol for September 30th and for those who went to boarding schools and the pain they suffered.”

🧡🪶
📸: Digali’i Native American Student Organization


(Also a special s/o to Native Impressions for the support. Sgi!)

09/30/2026

Such beauties! 🥹

09/30/2026

🧡🤎

Join us tomorrow (9/30) at 10:00 a.m. for the annual Every Child Matters Walk. Wear orange if you can. “Every Child Matters” acknowledges the thousands of Native children who were taken from their families and sent to boarding schools across the United States, where their cultures, languages, and traditions were stripped away. Together, we honor Survivors, remember the children who never returned home, and walk toward healing.

09/14/2026

We had another visitor at the center today! He was tiny! 🐸🥹

09/14/2026

The WCU Cherokee Center would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to the Cynthia Saunooke Foundation for inviting our Director, Shalana Yates, to serve as one of the keynote speakers at the From Darkness Into Hope event. 💙

We were grateful for the opportunity to spend the day with our community, share resources available through Western Carolina University, and remind those who stopped by our table that support is available. WCU Counseling & Psychological Services (CAPS) also provided us with a wonderful flyer featuring Tohi 🐾, and we encouraged everyone who passed through to take a little moment to “paws.” Life can be challenging, and sometimes we all need that reminder: you are never alone. 💙

One of the most meaningful parts of the day was seeing the response to our anonymous “Leave a Little Hope” basket. Community members took time to write messages of encouragement, kindness, and hope for someone else who may need to hear those words. To each and every person who contributed a message, sgi nigad! Your words may seem small, but you never know when a few kind words might reach someone at exactly the right moment.

Thank you to the Cynthia Saunooke Foundation, our community partners, and everyone who came together to support mental health awareness and su***de prevention. Thank you for helping us leave a little more hope in the world. 💙

Sgi!
WCU Cherokee Center Staff