With the attendance of multiple Native American tribes from various states, along with Gustavus students, friends and family, a whopping 950 tickets were sold and in total about 700 attendees were at Christ Chapel March 10, to listen to Keynote Speaker Charlotte Black Elk at this year’s Building Bridges Conference.

“We invited eleven tribes,” Building Bridges member Katie Schlangen said. “A lot of them came and we had discussions that engaged people in some of the workshops that we had to offer. I was amazed how we could bring all these people together and converse. To make this discussion come alive was awesome,” Schlangen said.

Coinciding with Gustavus’s Sesquicentennial, the Building Bridges Conference aimed to kindle discussion and inform the Gustavus community about the history and commemoration of the Dakota War of 1862.

“It was time to tell this story about the Mankato hangings that occurred in history,” Public Relations Co-Chair of Building Bridges Kate Redden said. “It was relevant and the Executive Committee agreed it was something that needed to happen.”

“The conversations should be kept in the minds of those attended,” Schlangen said. “Those who learned things from the conference should spread that knowledge to other people as well. The topic needs to move on and people should still be aware of everything that’s going on.”