Student Publications

Fargo College yearbook.

The Wau-Kan was Fargo College's yearbook. It was published by the Junior Class each year.

The earliest volume named Wau-Kan is Volume 4, published in 1907. Publication may have been interrupted by World War I. Volume 10 was published in 1916, Volume 12 in 1918, Volume 13 in 1919, Volume 15 in 1921 (shown right), and Volume 17 in 1923, the last issue before the school closed. Note that although the date of the last issue was 1923, it was actually published in 1922, the last year in which the College operated.

The 1904, 1905, and 1906 annuals were simply called the Junior Annual. The editors of the 1907 annual gave it the name of Wau Kan. The word "Wakan" was an Indian word of the Iroquois Tribe, meaning sacred. The word comes from a Sioux Indian expression "takoo-wakan" meaning "Behold the sacred mystery". The word is pronounced wau-kan ("walk on") and means "mystery". Thus the name of the annual is not an Indian word but the pronunciation of an Indian word.

The 1922 annual explains that "according to an old Indian Legend, Wau Kan is the spirit that moves, is all-powerful, is in and over all things, the giver of all good, the source of all help. Wau Kan was to the Indian the Great Spirit ...."

Fargo College students also published a student newspaper, the Blue and Gold, on the second Monday of each month of the school year. The first issue was in 1897. The Blue and Gold was last published in 1922.

Fargo College newspaper.