NPCC to host Veterans Day activities

North Platte Community College is looking for veterans who would be willing to speak about their military experience during a special ceremony at 12:15 p.m. Thursday.

The college will host the event in honor of Veterans Day. It will be open to the public and will include a question-and-answer session with attending vets. Refreshments will be served.

Immediately following the ceremony, at 1 p.m., the public will be able to watch a Zoom presentation featuring two Native American speakers: Theresa Stands and Beverly Running Bear.

Stands serves as the homeschool and Native family liaison for Scottsbluff Public Schools. She is of Lakota heritage and has spent her adult life learning more about her Native identity while also educating others.

Running Bear is a Lakota language instructor at Black Hills State University in Spearfish, S.D. and is a member of the Oglala Lakota tribe. She lives in Rapid City and grew up on the Pine Ridge Reservation in the 1950s.

Her first language was Lakota, but she lost it when she went to school and was forbidden to speak it. Her passion is to preserve the Lakota language and educate future generations of Lakota individuals about their cultural traditions.

In the Zoom presentation, Stands and Running Bear will share common misconceptions or ideas that center around the Thanksgiving holiday from a Native American perspective.

All activities will be in Room 136 of the McDonald-Belton Building on the NPCC South Campus, 601 W. State Farm Rd.