American Indian students will share their heritage with the rest of the OU community beginning Friday with the opening ceremony of American Indian Heritage Celebration Month.

Lauren Bivens, American Indian Student Association president and English literature senior, said the celebration is a way for OU's American Indian students to express themselves culturally with their surrounding community.

"The American Indian celebration is an event for us to share our culture," Bivens said. "It lets everyone else know what's going on, what we're about and that we are still here."

American Indian Heritage Celebration Month will begin at 10 a.m. Friday as students participate in the American Indian Heritage Walk from Dale Hall Tower to the Bizzell Memorial Library lawn. The day will include a ground blessing on Bizzell lawn, tipi set-up, drum group singing and dance exhibitions.

The celebrations will also include two keynote speakers, Vice President of Student Affairs Clarke Stroud and Jerry Bread Sr., coordinator of Native American Studies Outreach.

Lindy Waters, assistant director for the Center for Student Life and adviser for the American Indian Student Association, said this month is important for OU's American Indian students because it is an opportunity for the students to showcase their native community throughout the month.

"This month is important because Native [American] students have one of the largest representations of minority students with over 1,600 Native American students here," Waters said. "Also, the university is looked at as a flagship university for Native [American] students in the Midwest."

Some of the events taking place throughout the month are an American Indian Youth Language Fair, stomp dance, contest powwow, Native American studies symposium, American Indian Big XII Student Leadership Conference, Gamma Delta Pi basketball tournament, American Indian hymn singing and an awards banquet.

Bivens said OU is trying to retain American Indian students and that focusing on American Indian heritage in April will help improve American Indian students' retention and allow the OU community to learn more about American Indians.

Each of the American Indian student organizations on campus will host events throughout the month. The organizations that are sponsoring events include the American Indian Student Association, the American Indian Science and Engineering Society, Gamma Delta Pi, the Society of Native American Gentlemen, the Native American Women and Others for Multicultural Preservation, the Native American Pre-law Association, the Society of Native American Pre-health Professional Students, Greencorn and the Native American Law Students Association.

Meredith Jenson, international business and finance senior, said she thinks the celebration is a good thing for American Indian students.

"I think it's a good," Jenson said. "It's a celebration like Black History Month."

Bivens said that in previous years, the celebration has taken place every two to three years, but with so many American Indian organizations hosting events, he said he thinks it is appropriate to dedicate a month to the celebration.

"We have a lot of groups who want to get involved and do something," she said. "Now we have around 20 events spread out over the whole month rather than two weeks."
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