‘Resilience & Vision:’ Native American Awareness Week events kick off Tuesday at LCSC

Lewis-Clark State College’s annual Native American Awareness Week Powwow is set for March 17 in Lewiston, with a full slate of free events leading up to it.

Now in its 36th year, this year’s awareness week celebrates the theme “Resilience & Vision,” according to a news release from the school.

A full list of events is at lcsc.edu/minority-programs/native-american-awareness-week. Among the activities planned are:

• Area fourth grade classes will attend a mini powwow from 10-11:15 a.m. Tuesday at the P1FCU Activity Center to get events rolling.
• “Sisters Rising,” a documentary about Native American women fighting to restore personal and tribal sovereignty in the face of ongoing sexual violence against Indigenous women, screens at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Center for Arts & History, 415 Main St. A virtual discussion with co-producers Jaida Grey Eagle and Willow O’Feral will follow.
• Students and teams from area high schools and colleges will collaborate with LCSC Nez Perce Language teachers and Nez Perce elders starting at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday to compete in a Language Bowl at the Williams Conference Center, 801 Fourth St. The competition, led by LCSC student Justin Rabago-Johnson, will focus on the Nez Perce language, with the categories to be set based on the number of participants.
• Nez Perce actor Kellen Lewis will perform the play “According to Coyote” from 1:30-2:45 p.m. Wednesday at the Silverthorne Theater, 500 Eighth Ave. Written by John Kaufman, the anthology of tales features the legendary hero of Native American mythology using traditions of music, dance and theater.
• Several panel discussions are set for next Thursday at the Williams Conference Center. The first, at 10 a.m., focuses on “LCSC Native American Alumni Women & Entrepreneurship.” Participants will share their business and entrepreneurial journeys in relationship to education, culture, leadership and visions for the future.
• Native American students Sara George, Rabago-Johnson, Cameron Paradise and Kelani Smith will discuss their educational journeys from noon-1 p.m. during another panel, and a final discussion, “Nimiipuu Ha’ayat,” is set for 1:30 p.m., featuring Nez Perce women adoptees discussing their stories of the Indian Adoption Era, 1958-67.
• The annual Native American Awareness Week Friendship Reception is scheduled for 6 p.m. next Thursday at the Williams Conference Center, where student achievements will be acknowledged and the annual Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented.
• The week wraps at 7 p.m. March 17 with the Closing Powwow at the P1FCU Activity Center, where tickets will be drawn for the LCSC Alumni Chapter Scholarship Raffle. Tickets for the raffle, with prizes including a $400 bundle of gift cards, jet boat tickets and Pendleton and Eighth Generation blankets, can be purchased from Native American Club Members, at the Pi’amkinwaas, 1112 Seventh St., or at the Native American, Minority & Veterans’ Services office, Rooms 210 and 212 of Reid Centennial Hall.