>La Grande Observer | Union and Wallowa Counties' News Leader

Eastern Oregon University will celebrate its 33rd annual Spring Celebration Pow Wow & Friendship Feast Saturday.

Grand entries are scheduled for 1 and 7 p.m. in Quinn Coliseum at EOU.

The Friendship Feast is scheduled for 5 p.m. in Hoke Student Center. The Confederated Tribes Umatilla Indian Reservation Fisheries Program has donated salmon for the feast.

The Grammy Award-nominated BlackLodge Singers (White Swan, Wash.) will serve as this year's host drum and Fred Hill (Umatilla/Yakama) as the master of ceremonies. The slick dance will be part of this year's dance competition categories. A hoop dancer from the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs will also perform.

Prizes will be awarded in the following categories: children's fancy and traditional; teens fancy and traditional; adults fancy and traditional, golden age; and featured competition slick dancing.

Horace Axtell, Nez Perce elder and preserver of the ancient songs, will provide a prayer and invocations at the Friendship Feast. He is known as a spiritual leader in the Seven Drums religion and recently co-published the book "A Little Bit of Wisdom" with Margo Aragon. He received the 2002 Idaho Humanities Council Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Humanities.

This year's event will also feature the talents of EOU students. The Micronesian students, members of the Navigators club, will perform a traditional number from the Pacific island of Palau. La Raza (Hispanic student union) will also perform several traditional/folklore dances.

Vendors will be on hand to sell native arts and crafts.

Speel-Ya/AISES will conduct a donation raffle. The grand prize is a Pendleton blanket. The concession stand will be open during the pow wow and feature Indian tacos and fry bread.

The event is free and open to the public. It is organized by Speel-Ya (Native American student council), EOU's chapter of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society and the Native American Program.

For more pow wow information and vendor registration, call the Native American Program at 962-3741.

The EOU Native American Program is hosting the Native American Higher Education and Career Awareness Workshop Friday. The group's purpose is to build awareness in the Native American community to the careers in the health profession fields. The workshop also provides Native American youth with information and resources they will need to enroll in a university.

This year's participants will represent the Burns Paiute Tribe, Confederated Tribes Grand Ronde, Confederated Tribes Warm Springs, and the Confederated Tribes Umatilla Indian Reservation. The students are juniors and seniors in high school.

Panels and workshops will include scholarships and financial aid, health careers, benefits of volunteering, what makes a successful student. A special workshop conducted by youth from CTUIR will focus on HIV/STD and unintended pregnancy. Finally, students will enjoy a night of bowling and participate in the pow wow Saturday.

This event is co-sponsored by the Northeast Oregon Area Health Education Center and Eastern Oregon University.

For more information visit www.eou.edu/native or call 962-3741