By Rachel Gardner
gardner@newsroom.byu.edu
In honor of Native American History Month, students gathered Nov. 16 to learn about their heritage.
'This month is a remembering of the history of all the Native American tribes in the United States and Canada. Remembering the people and how their culture has evolved,' said LaVay Talk, multicultural advisor at BYU.
The multicultural club hosted the symposium in the Wilkinson Student Center.
Howard T. Rainer, program administrator for the Native American Educational Outreach Programs at BYU addressed the audience with a talk entitled, 'The Change Within.'
For over two decades Rainer has been travelling throughout the United States and Canada as a motivational speaker for the Native American youth.
'He clicks with the youth, he is on a mission to reach them,' LaVay said.
Rainer began by encouraging students to be a light, giving hope and vision to the world by making a difference through selfless humility and example.
'A dream is just a desire with a deadline,' Rainer said.
Most have dreams and have the desire to accomplish them and through effort and energy one can make dreams come true, he said.
Rainer taught that there is no excuse to not have a destiny. Everyone has a personal destiny, and one can fulfill it by knowing who they are and their strengths and weaknesses.
'You should be thinking now about what you are going to do when you graduate and with your life,' Rainer said.
He said students should know now what they are going to do and when they are going to do it.
'Being Native American I really took what he said to heart because my parents didn't go to college and going back home I see that my relatives look up to me,' said Teresa Ockey, 23, a senior from Kirtland, New Mexico, majoring in psychology.
'He changed my perspectives on my dreams and made me see that through effort and energy I can accomplish them,' Ockey said.
That evening students continued with the month's festivities at the third annual FryBread Power Night.
The Tribe of Many Feathers Club taught students how to make Indian FryBread, which is similar to scones.
Tonight at 9 p.m. the multicultural club will host a dance in 29 of the Knight Magnum Building. Admission is two cans of food that will be donated to a local food bank.