Comanche Nation Elects New Royalty
On Saturday, April 5, Comanche Nation Princess Election votes were counted, and Comanche Nation Princess and Jr. princess were announced at a powwow, which took place at Watchetaker Hall.
Comanche Nation Princess Bluesky Tosee and Jr. Princess Arlene Schonchin took their last laps around the powwow ring before the crowning events.
Schonchin crowned incoming Jr. Princess Tatum Burgess.
Burgess said a family member was a candidate, and she was honored to become Jr. princess.
“I feel really good that I've won, and I'm excited to see what's coming my summer and my whole entire rest of this year,” she said. “I'm excited.”
Burgess’s mom and dad were her biggest supporters.
“They've supported me throughout this whole little journey that I had, and I'm so excited for them to keep…supporting me throughout this whole thing,” she said.
Burgess hopes to inspire the youth.
“My goal is to encourage all the youth to, you know, see me and like the young girls wanting to come out and starting to dance and learn their language and their culture and their life,” she said.
Tosee crowned incoming Comanche Nation Princess Isabela Rameriez.
“It's truly amazing being able to represent…this great nation,” Rameriez said. “There's a whole bunch of people that were by my side this whole way, and…we have a rich history, and I'm so happy that I can represent that and help teach about our culture.”
She said her family supported her through the campaigning cycle.
“It was mainly my parents, especially my grandma. She was on our back for everything,” Rameriez said. “She always was like, ‘You need to get this done.’ ‘You need your otter cap to be finished.’ ‘You need new leggings.’ ‘You need new everything.’ And she's truly my biggest supporter. She was telling me to post what to do for my campaigns and…having my whole family behind my back…they're truly amazing. And I'm truly grateful that I come from such an amazing family.”
She said she wants to bring the elders out more.
“While it's important for our kids to live on, come to powwows, learn our culture, our elders are the people that teach us it,” Rameriez said. “And people don't really give the spotlight to our elders that much. You know, they're the people that teach us everything. Like, even day-to-day stuff we learn from our elders. And they have a lot of wealth of knowledge. And I just really want to be able to be out there, support our elders. You know...they’ve had tough times. And I want to be able to bring them out here and just live.”
She’s hoping to use the title to teach the culture and become a counselor for native youth.
