Representing her Roots
Breanna Colwell was on her way home from auditioning for the Chippewa Marching Band when her eyes started to well with tears.
The Mount Pleasant freshman and biomedical sciences major came to CMU to march in the band. Michigan State University was an option—but have no clarinets in its marching band, her instrument of choice.
A member of the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe, Colwell drove home last June trying to think of what she was going to say to her mother when she walked in the door.
Colwell said she had been a leader as a drum major at Mount Pleasant High School, but was a nervous wreck entering the audition. She distinctly remembers every error.
“I was running late,” Colwell said. “They called me in, I sat down, and it was just quiet. I messed up two or three times. I got to this one point where I sped up my feet but I didn’t speed up my fingers, so I wasn’t playing in time and I was just so embarrassed, so I apologized.”
The woman who auditioned before her didn’t make it. Colwell shook throughout the audition as she feared the same fate.
Colwell’s mother, Michelle, is a tribal administrative assistant. She knew her daughter yearned to make the marching band, but not just because she’d be the first woman from the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe to make the band.
“When she was chosen as section leader (in high school), a parent was trying to say that she bribed her way,” Michelle said. “I wasn’t too thrilled.”
Breanna said those auditioning her at CMU knew she was from the Mount Pleasant area, but not that she was part of the Tribe.
“You can accomplish something without having to play the native card,” Breanna said. “That’s a big problem we have.”
Once she arrived home from her audition, Breanna knew she earned what she deserved.
“I just kept quiet,” Breanna said. “I just tried to seem sad. My mom looked up and asked, ‘How’d it go?’ I told her I didn’t make it.”
Breanna was trying to play a trick on her mom. It didn’t work—depending on who you ask.
“She walked in the door and couldn’t get a smile off her face,” Michelle said. “She was just so excited.”
Breanna fits right into the marching band, according to Assistant Drum Major and Saline junior Kurt Mai, who said she’s been “phenomenal” in her first year in the band. Mai said her presence has also helped the band further understand the meaning behind the Chippewa name they seek to honor.
“It’s exciting that not only do we recognize we have somebody from the Tribe in the band,” Mai said. “We’re proudly able to wear their name.”
Being just the second member from the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe to make the marching band, Breanna said the larger issue is continuing higher education for Natives.
“I switched to public school in first grade,” Breanna said. “Other kids would stay (at Native schools) and they weren’t as diversified because of it.”
In the Colwell family, “education comes first,” Michelle said.
While many members of the Tribe support Breanna by coming to football games and offering congratulations, Brenna said it was difficult growing up in an assimilated culture.
Breanna has become knowledgeable in both cultures. She participates in fancy dancing, basket weaving, beadwork and mentorship within the Tribe.
“My brother and I both used to get picked on a little bit because we had white friends and not native friends,” Breanna said. “Now that we’re older, we’re more involved in the activities going on (within the Tribe) so we don’t feel like outsiders in other generations.”
