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Contact Information: Merced – On Saturday, November 8, the University of California, Merced will help sponsor the second annual Merced Native American Benefit Pow Wow at Lake Yosemite. Proceeds from the event will be used to establish scholarships for deserving students to attend UC Merced. The event will celebrate tribal history and customs with a festival of specialty dances and performances as well as drumming, arts and crafts, and authentic Native American cuisine. Activities will begin at 10:00 a.m. with gourd dancing. Grand entries are scheduled at noon and at 6:00 p.m. Demonstrations, specialty and intertribal dancing will take place throughout the afternoon and evening in the dance arena until 10:00 p.m. Dancers attending will represent many different tribes as this is an intertribal American Indian festival, gathering and celebration, which is shared with the general public. This year a new component, the Youth “Make ‘n’ Take” Village, will include a storytelling activity. UC Merced is proud to join the California Indian Education Association Central Valley Chapter and Merced County Schools in sponsoring the second annual Merced Native American Benefit Pow Wow at Lake Yosemite Park (Veterans and Rotary Coves) in Merced. For more information on this free event, please call (209) 726-9620. UC Merced, the 10th campus of the UC system and the first major research university to be built in the United States during the 21st century, is scheduled to open in fall 2005 with 1,000 students, ultimately growing to a student population of 25,000. The university has a special mission to serve the educational needs of San Joaquin Valley residents, and is already serving area students through a concurrent admissions program at three Valley community colleges and by offering UC summer session courses in Fresno, Bakersfield and Atwater. UC Merced currently employs approximately 165 educators and professionals who are working on developing the physical and academic infrastructure of the campus. ###
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