The 28th Annual American Indian Symposium will be held at the Memorial Union tonight through Saturday and will consist of many activities for people to take part in.

“The purpose is to highlight the cultures of American Indians,” Irma Wilson-White, a co-chair of the symposium planning committee, said. “A lot of people imagine American Indians still in the 1800s ,and this symposium began because of a need to educate non-Indians of what American Indians are about.”

Wilson-White believes it is important that people realize modern American Indians are educated. Many are college graduates and others hold Phds.

Several events will be taking place within the three days to increase awareness, including an art exhibit in the Memorial Union Gallery.

Speaker Jim Denomie, an Ojibwe artist, will be coming from Minneapolis to talk about his work.

“Smoke Signals,” a film about modern American Indians that won two awards at last year’s Sundance Flim Festival, will be shown in the Pioneer room tonight and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 6:15 p.m. Admission is free.

Sherman Alexie, a Spokane Indian who wrote and co-produced the film, will be giving a speech on “myths, lies and exaggerations,” Friday at 8 p.m. in the Sun Room. He also will be signing books afterwards.

Michael Olujic, sophomore in accounting, finance and American Indian studies, highly recommends “Smoke Signals.”

“It’s an actual portrayal of how Indian people really are,” Olujic said. “It’s a fictional story, but the way they live and conflicts they experience are true.”

Native dancing and singing will be presented by the group Powwow, who will be coming from the Meskwaki settlement.

“A lot of people look forward to watching the Powwow,” Wilson-White said.

There are about 70 American Indian students at Iowa State, most of whom have been helping tremendously to organize the event.