Engagement & Community Outreach

Akwe:kon means "All of Us" in Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk). Our commitment is to provide opportunities for our community members at Akwe:kon to display and gain leadership experience on campus, in their home communities, and across the country, as well as to teach the importance of reciprocity through engagement and outreach.

You can apply to become an out-of-house member to enjoy the community, participate in programming and take advantage of resources that Akwe:kon offers.

In Community at Akwe:kon

Akwe:kon houses 35 undergraduate residents each term. Our residents are encouraged to collaborate on building a residential experience that feels like home to them. Residents are encouraged to participate in Ongwe Council which meets weekly, caring for the Full Circle Healing and Honoring Garden, to collaborate on shared meals, plan group trips, and develop ways to give back to their community.

Akwe:kon Full Circle Healing and Honoring Garden

Students from the American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program (AIISP) brought their idea of a medicinal garden to students and staff from Cornell Botanic Gardens’ Learning by Leading program in 2022. Together, they established the Akwe:kon Full Circle Healing and Honoring Garden, which aims to further bond Cornell’s Indigenous student community and to honor Indigenous students and their connection to the land.

Students tend the garden each semester. Another collaborative effort within the garden is an on-going project with Research Associate Stephen Henhawk (Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫˀ/Cayuga) to develope an interactive app naming each native plant in the Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫˀ (Cayuga) language. Akwe:kon along with all of Cornell and the surrounding area is located on the ancestral and contemporary land of the Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫˀ.

Akwe:kon Healing and Honoring Medicinal Garden - Video

Photo of one woman talking to a group of young students in front of a large gray house and tree with fall foliage. — AIISP Associate Director, Leslie Logan (Seneca), points to the circle where the Akwe:kon garden will be placed (Photo: Ben Maracle, fall 2022).

Ongwe Hall Council

The hall council is composed of residents wanting to take on an active role in the Akwe:kon community. Council members convene weekly to discuss programming ideas for the house, focusing on community development and inclusion. Past events include:

Super Bowl party
Be my Valentine - Celebrating Valentine's Day and healthy relationships
Yogurt parfait study break
Neon mania party

To inquire about membership in the Ongwe Hall Council, please contact aiisp [at] cornell.edu (aiisp[at]cornell[dot]edu).

Resident Advisors (RAs)

Students have the opportunity to develop their leadership and professional skills by serving as Resident Advisors (RAs) at Akwe:kon. RAs are live-in community leaders and peer educators, encouraging residents to respect one another, get involved with floor, hall and area activities, and providing information about campus resources.

Photograph of a gray colored house with a cone shaped roof and a large face of windows in the front.

Photograph of five college students transplanting tobacco plants into a garden with black eyed susans in the foreground.

Photograph of a woman wearing a patterned jacket addressing a seated audience from behind.

A figure wearing a red shirt with a white image of the everlasting tree wampum belt holds a lacrosse stick ready to catch a ball.

Outreach & Engagement in Native Communities

Akwe:kon residents come from around the globe. The vision of Akwe:kon was a house of reciprocity, where students would take the lessons learned on campus and bring them back to their home communities locally and around the world. Since Akwe:kon was established in 1991 we have collaborated closely with Haudenosaunee Nations and communities across the region. Including through our students offering high school tutoring, community research projects, capacity building, and agricultural support. Explore some of our current collaborations below.

White Corn Project at Ganondagan

The Iroquois White Corn Project, originally Pinewoods Community Farming, began as the vision of Dr. John Mohawk (Seneca) and Dr. Yvonne Dion-Buffalo (Samson Cree). The mission of the White Corn Project is to encourage Haudenosaunee farmers to grow traditional white corn, and for Haudenosaunee communities to have access to their traditional foods. Ganondagan State Historic Site hosts annual White Corn Project Braiding and Husking Days at their farm near Victor NY.

About thirty shucked ears of white corn are braided together into one bundle, and lay spread out on a table.

Onondaga Nation School Medicinal Garden

The Onondaga Nation School Medicinal Garden, is a co-collaborative effort between the community members at Onondaga Nation School and Sustainable Landscapes Team, made possible through a Community Funding Partnership Board grant of $2,500.

The Sustainable Landscape Team is a Cornell Botanic Garden Learning by Leading program team composed of botanic garden staff mentors and a group of students interested in native plants and creating/restoring ecological areas through sustainable design.

Hoyane Spencer Lyons, inspired by the plans to construct the Akwe:kon Full Circle Healing and Honoring Garden, wanted to create a similar space of connection to the land and unity at Onondaga Nation.

The objective of the garden is influenced both by the intended users and the land on which it is situated. Onondaga Nation School is situated on Onondaga Nation territory, serving students from pre-kindergarten to 8th grade. The garden intends to be an extension of the classroom, through integration with NYSED learning standards and cultural teachings. Moreover, it is a space meant to foster Onondaga language revitalization among the youth as well as preservation of cultural heritage by mediating connections between elders and the students.

The garden will serve as a continuum of the natural area preservation work already being accomplished at the school such as the Haudenosaunee Environmental Task Force’s restored boardwalk trail.

With extensive consultation with Onondaga Nation School community partners and Sga:t ędwatahí:ne Fellows guiding Sustainable Landscapes Team, we have been able to move forward and lay the foundation to establish the garden.