Percy Bartelt, staff writer

One of the wonderful things about Augsburg is the myriad of events hosted by our students to bring communities together. Come the holidays, many events open up that are hosted by student organizations around campus, and as Valentine’s Day came and went, Augsburg Indigenous Student Association (AISA) hosted an event called “Bring Your Own Snag.” Anyone was free to attend, decorate, eat cookies and make a personalized Valentine’s Day gift bag with crafting materials to make anything you want – and to top it all off, there was hot chocolate and free COVID tests!

AISA’s intention is to support their fellow Indigenous students and uplift one another’s voices. In doing so, they aim to preserve and spread accurate Indigenous history for the betterment of their community and for the future education of generations to come. 

This event is an especially significant one for AISA, as they were unable to hold an event last year due to the pandemic. One member of AISA, Reuben Kitto Stately, explained the importance of “having a space for Native and even non-Native students to connect,” even if only to “[hang] out,” in order to ensure that the members of AISA feel connected to one another and to the rest of campus.

This sense of connection is important to many AISA members, including Andrew Gross, who joined the organization in order to bond with other Indigenous students on campus. “I wanted to be connected to the AISA community,” said Gross. “Every single event is about building community… and I feel closer to my relatives.”

The event had a very comfortable, safe vibe, in my opinion. We were immediately greeted by Stately and told about what the event was for, what activities we could do, and what snacks we could have. As far as the hanging out portion of this event, the students of AISA made sure everyone was comfortable and had what we needed, and it was simply a very casual, laid back and enjoyable event! 

Overall, my friends and I had an amazing time hanging out with AISA’s community members, and we highly recommend attending their events. We had a great time talking with them, making Valentine’s Day crafts, and especially had fun drinking hot chocolate.