2017-2018 Wichita Tribal Princess

 Makennah McAdams 

2017-2018 Wichita Tribal Princess

 (Updated from the original article published in the August 2017 edition of Wichita Tribal News)

Makennah Rae McAdams, the 17-year-old daughter of Cassandra McAdams and Charles Chalepah, is the 2017-2018 Wichita Tribal Princess. She is the granddaughter of Gary and the late Ardina McAdams and Carolyn Chalepah; the great-granddaughter of Louie and Elva Mae Miller McAdams; and the great-great granddaughter of Moses and Minnie Caley. McAdams was crowned on Thursday August 10, 2017, on the first night of the Wichita Annual Dance.

Makennah served as the 2016-2017 Wichita Little Sisters Princess. She is actively involved in the Wichita-Pawnee Visitation, the oldest traditional ceremony the tribe continues. She also takes part in the Young Dog Dance and the Kitkehaki Dance.

In addition, Makennah takes part in numerous cultural activities including our hand games, traditional women's game of Double Ball, and dances. She has attended the Oklahoma Native American Youth Language Fair in Norman, Oklahoma, since she was five years old. Makennah has placed several times at ONAYLF, performing with the Wichita Little Sisters. This year, Makennah was interviewed in a video to commemorate the language fair's 15th anniversary.

She has also attended several cultural classes that include bead work, basket weaving, language classes, song classes, learning the Wichita Hymns/Lullabies, and pottery class.

Makennah was a 2016 intern for the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes. As an intern, she visited several Wichita Village sites and took part in an archeological dig where she discovered a piece of pottery at the Deer Creek Site near Newkirk, Oklahoma. She attended a pedestrian survey in Arkansas City, Kansas. and an archaeology workshop provided by the Wichita Cultural Education Program.

She is a Senior at Anadarko High School and looks forward to all possibilities her future holds.

Makennah comes from a long list of women in her family (mother, aunts, sister and numerous cousins) who have also held the title of Wichita Tribal Princess. Her family has a German Silver crown specially made for all the women in her family who become Wichita Princess. It is a great honor for her to wear this crown and an even greater honor to represent her family, herself and our people as the Wichita Tribal Princess.

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