Landen Edwards
Native American Welcome Reception
The Butte college Native American center hosted it’s third annual “Native American Welcome Reception,” an event created to help shine light on programs offered to First Nations students, as well as the importance of the local Native culture.
Attendees were treated to a beautiful show featuring songs passed down through many different generations, and local indigenous dancers dressed in their elegant traditional regalia. Those gathered were given a speech on the importance of land acknowledgment to close out the event.
I had the chance to catch up with student worker Maya Ruiz at The Native American center, when asked about the importance of the center on campus for First Nation students she had this to say.
“I feel like the Native American Center is a really beneficial center to the student campus, and it allows Native American students to come in and feel that community and be welcomed in on campus. It also helped ease the financial burden for me, because they do help with things like funding, resources and stuff like that. I also got to meet a lot of people and build that sense of community while also being more involved just in the culture.”