Commencement Week 2026
Let the Festivities Begin!
CMN will be hosting their 2026 Commencement at
the Menominee Casino Resort Conference Center
on Friday, May 15th in the Five Clans Ballroom.
The ceremony will begin at 10AM.
Commencement Week Schedule of Events
- High School Recognition Event: May 13th.
- 5-7 pm (invite only) at Menominee Casino Resort
- President's Breakfast and Commencement Rehearsal: May 14th.
- 9AM (graduates only) at Menominee Casino Resort.
- Commencement Rehearsal will commence after the President's Breakfast, with a tentative start between 10:30 and 11.
- The rehearsal should last about an hour.
- Commencement: May 15th.
- Students should plan to arrive by 8:30
- Class picture will be taken at 9, they will lineup at 9:30, and commencement starts at 10 am:
- at Menominee Casino Resort
- Reception to follow at CMN Campus
Keynote & Student Speakers
Pamala M. Silas is an enrolled member of the Menominee Tribe of Wisconsin and a descendant of the Oneida Nation. Pam earned a Bachelor of Science, Economics from DePaul University in Chicago in 1991 and earned the Certified Association Executive credential (CAE) in 2011. She currently works at Northwestern University as Associate Director for the Center for Native American and Indigenous Research.
Pam is passionate about education and community development having grown up in foster care in Milwaukee, being the first of her seven siblings to graduate high school and college. She has spent her adult life committed to personal and community healing - using her skills and experience to support and encourage others towards a future where our Native communities restore their kinship, heal and thrive together.
Posoh!
Gracie mohkaman newīhswan, Mēyāwāēw māmaceqtaw newīhswan (Gracie is my English name, Mēyāwāēw is my Menominee name). I am a proud member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, and I am a Menominee descendant and member of the Eagle Clan. I reside in Bonduel with my family.
While I was not raised on the reservation, my family instilled in me a love for our lands, sustainable practices, culture, and tribal values. Today, I try to incorporate reciprocity, respect, and gratitude for our people and homeland in all the work I do.
I have professional experience as a hospitality aide at Evergreen nursing home, political organizing for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, and now, as an intern at the Sustainable Development Institute, where I proudly work alongside DAFS and UW-Madison’s Trout Lake Limnology Station to bolster wild rice restoration and water resilience.
Outside of work and higher education, I volunteer with the Cross Border Organizing Working Group to decommission Lines 5 and 9 and peacefully combat the extractive fossil fuel industry that largely targets Indigenous communities and transboundary waters in the United States and Canada. My wish is to live to see Line 5 decommissioned to protect the Bad River Reservation and the Lake Superior watershed. Throughout this work, I have learned to be thoughtful about extraction, AI, data and water sovereignty, and the importance of organizing in a good way.
I want to say māēc wāēwāēnen (thank you) to the staff, faculty, and students at the College of Menominee Nation who have supported me in all of my endeavors- both in and outside the classroom. I have grown over these years of earning an Associate's Degree in Liberal Studies, and will always be grateful for the knowledge I have gained from mentors and friends.