OCC opens Indigenous Student Center and announces upcoming Haudenosaunee art festival

Onondaga Community College has opened an Indigenous student center on campus. The college also has hired Irv Lyons Jr. to recruit more native students to campus.

So far, he's helped enroll 15. Ankit Bandyopadhyay Ankit Bandyopadhyay | Contributing Writer Onondaga, N.Y.



-- The Center for Indigenous and Native Students at the Onondaga Community College reopened with a new look earlier this month and a formal acknowledgment that the school stands on Onondaga Nation ground. Irv Lyons Jr., Indigenous admissions counselor for the OCC, said that the renovations now include computers for Native students along with art contributions from OCC alum and Onondaga Nation member Brandon Lazore .

Lazore’s work shows other OCC students they can go on to do big things after college, Lyons said to syracuse.com | The Post-Standard. “He came from the same place that they did,” Lyons said, “and made it through doing hard work and getting his education.

” Lyons joined OCC as an Indigenous admissions counselor in January with the goal of recruiting more Native students. So far, 15 additional students have enrolled. Lyons said he hopes the center and the upcoming Haudenosaunee Arts Festival will help people see that the OCC honors Native presence in Central New York.

Onondaga Community College has opened an Indigenous student center on campus. Ankit Bandyopadhyay The festival, on Aug. 9, will feature 45 different vendors, including food trucks, and arts and crafts.

Additionally, a fashion show is planned along with music and various activities, Lyons said. Lyons said the OCC Indigenous center, located at OCC’s Mawhinney Hall room 345, is open for everyone to come in and learn about their culture. For more information about the festival or the center, contact Lyons at i.

[email protected].

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