For 36 years the Native American Student Association, known as Tiospaye, at The University of South Dakota hosts an annual pow-wow. A pow-wow is a traditional Native American gathering where the Native American heritage is celebrated. The pow-wow is intended for the community as well as the USD campus and is used as a learning tool to help better understand the Native American culture through a hands one experience. The pow-wow brings in all aspects of the Native American culture and exposes the community to all of its amazing elements. There are many events that take place at the pow-wow that help people learn more about the culture. Activities include Native American dancers, both male and female, that perform various dances. Also, a variety of drum groups come from different Tribes to play at the pow-wow in their native language. There will also be story tellers, which tell the story of the Native American people and heritage, Native American art work and traditional Native American meals will be served during the event. The planning of the 2008 USD Pow-wow has been in the works since the beginning of September. The things that have been accomplished to this point are: * The date/time/location have been set: DATE: 03-29-08-03-30-08 TIME: starting at 11:00am on the 29th and ending at 3:00pm on the 30th LOCATION: Vermillion High School gym in Vermillion, SD * Volunteers: Volunteers have been recruited from the Greek community on the USD campus as well as at the local high school. Volunteers will work as security at the event and also help with the set up and take down. * Activities: Drum groups, dancers, story tellers and Color guard have been lined up for the event. * Arena Director and Emcee (those who conduct the pow-wow activities) have been arranged. The things that will be completed include: * Signing contracts with the emcee and arena director * Fundraising for the event * Lining up vendors to sell items at the event * More fundraising * Deciding on a theme for the pow-wow * Requesting donations * Completing pow-wow poster for publicity. This event is completely student run and is operated off of donations and through fundraising. Every year since it first started the pow-wow has grown in participants and in the number of people affected by it.