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'Our culture is very strong': Native American studying in UCC strengthening Cork links with tribe
29 May 2023
Courtesy of Echolive
Skylee Glass is preparing to head home after completing an MA in Applied Psychology in UCC with the help of a Choctaw-Ireland Scholarship. Sarah Horgan hears how the scholarship is strengthening ties between Cork and the Choctaw people and of the strong personal links Skylee built up on Leeside
A NATIVE American studying in UCC is strengthening Cork links with her tribe through opportunities both communities feared might never be possible.
Skylee Glass from Verden in Oklahoma is preparing to head back to the US after completing an MA in Applied Psychology in UCC with the help of a Choctaw-Ireland Scholarship. The initiative was introduced to acknowledge the generosity and humanitarianism displayed by the Choctaw nation of Oklahoma who gifted funds to the Irish during famine times. The donation arrived shortly after that infamous period of history known as the Trail of Tears which saw ethnic cleansing result in the forced displacement of around 60,000 native Americans in the Southeastern US in the 1800s.
A monument in Bailick Park, Midleton, the Kindred Spirits sculpture pays testament to the incredible gesture. Plans by the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma are underway to construct an equivalent called the ‘Eternal Heart’ on the Choctaw Capitol grounds in Tuskahoma, Oklahoma, taking the form of a Celtic trinity symbol intertwined with a heart.
