Dia de los Muertos
West Valley College’s Día de los Muertos events are vibrant, campuswide celebration honoring life, culture, and remembrance through art, music, and community connection. This event features cultural workshops, altars, folklórico dance, live music, and a closing ceremony rooted in traditional rituals, bringing together students, faculty, and community members to celebrate the legacy and meaning of this important cultural tradition.
UnThanksgiving
Unthanksgiving Day (also known as Indigenous Peoples Sunrise Ceremony) showcases the advocacy and social justice movement for Native Americans that gained most visibility in the 1960s, including the occupation of the island of Alcatraz. Previous programs included a land acknowledgment, blessing, trivia, tribal leader presentations on Native history.
MMIW
Native women face murder rates more than 10 times the national average, and four out of five Native women have experienced violence in their lifetime. The Ethnic Studies department holds an annual Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) awareness day to educate people on the systemic and historical factors that allow Native women and girls to suffer violence and death at such alarming rates as a result of colonization. Students pursuing careers in administration of justice, medicine/nursing, social work, public policy, law, and education will find this event especially informative.
This event brings together students, staff, Native community partners, and the community at large as we live up to our Mission Statement: West Valley College provides inclusive, accessible, transformative education to empower students to create positive change in their lives and communities.