Please join the American Indian Resource Center, students, staff, faculty, and community members for our annual powwow during Alumni Weekend.

MC: Earl Neconie
Host MC: Val Lopez
Arena director: Val Shadow Hawk
Host northern drum: Drum & Feather
Host southern drum: Turtle Nation
Host dancers: Amah Mutson Dancers
Special guests: Elem Pomo Dancers

All drums and dancers welcome!


About the powwow

Powwows are often cultural touchstones for American Indian peoples living far away from home, family, and community. The modern powwow was brought by American Indians to cities such as Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Minneapolis & St. Paul, Tulsa, Austin, and many others as a way to connect to one another culturally, socially, and spiritually.

With a population of just 1 percent of the total population of the United States, American Indians are often culturally isolated and experience ongoing colonial trauma as they move away from home, family, and community; powwows are a chance to be around other American Indians, share cultures, songs, dances, and regalia in someplace very far away from what they have known.

University powwows also serve as an organizing principle for American Indian student organizations: to connect with family and friends back home, as well as make new connections with other American Indian people. Cultural isolation is often cited as a reason American Indian students drop out of school and return home. Providing a cultural touchstone such as a powwow brings students together and provides a sense of home, of family and community, and a chance to be around other American Indian students to share and connect with in ways that not many non American Indian people understand. The planning is extensive and requires academic, social, planning, and budgetary skills—all capabilities needed by students to prepare for a rigorous job market that is constantly changing.


About Sophia Garcia-Robles

Sophia touched many lives during her 27-year career at UC Santa Cruz. She served as financial aid adviser, mentor, and advocate for many UCSC students. Prior to joining the Financial Aid and Scholarship Office staff, she was employed at Stevenson College. She also volunteered for well over 10 years as a residential preceptor at Merrill College and College Eight. A natural leader, Sophía was charismatic, powerful, genuine, and enormously generous. She dedicated her life to the education and well-being of others and to fighting hunger and poverty. At UC Santa Cruz, Sophía was responsible for training staff in the Financial Aid and Scholarship Office as well as for serving as an adviser for students. She was involved in the Chicano/Latino and American Indian communities, she served as a tireless advocate for AB 540 students, and she was a generous contributor to the UC Santa Cruz Food Pantry and to the Educational Opportunity Program Lending Library.

The American Indian Resource Center honors Sophia's life and her commitment to higher education and social justice by naming this annual event for her, an event that seeks to do what she did in her life: make a difference for people in need.