Tour of California
Pico holds key role at annual Stanford Powwow
This year, on Mother’s Day weekend, more than 30,000 Native Americans from across the continent gathered at the Eucalyptus Grove on the Stanford University campus for the 39th annual Stanford Powwow. The student-organized Powwow featured dance and drum competitions, art, a fun run and a basketball tournament.
Randy Pico, superintendent of the National Security Engineering Division at LLNL, served as head judge at the event, evaluating 22 categories of singing and dancing competitions involving more than 400 contestants.
"The Stanford student committee entrusted me with an enormous responsibility," Pico said. "I am privileged to have participated in this year’s event and proud to have been asked."
Pico has taken part in several past powwows — gatherings of North America’s native people — as a singer, master of ceremonies, arena director, judge and dancer. Pico spent his youth on the Pechanga Indian Reservation where his mother and father reside.
An advocate of land preservation and American Indian leadership, he also has been active in the community encouraging native youth to study engineering and science.
The event was sponsored by the Stanford American Indian Organization. For more information, click here or go to the Stanford Powwow Web page .
Lab ‘Relay for Life’ team gains momentum
The LLNL-sponsored team Camp Run-a-Muck is ready for the American Cancer Society’s Livermore Relay For Life set for June 26. The goal of Relay For Life is to raise money and awareness to help save more lives from cancer.
Relay participants will join together for a fun-filled 24-hour event, celebrating survivorship. At the event, teams of people gather and take turns walking or running laps. Each team tries to keep at least one team member on the track at all times.
"The collective impact is much greater than what any one person could do alone," said Mark Costella, team captain. "By joining or donating to the team, you can be a part of a life-changing event that gives everyone in the community a chance to celebrate the lives of people who have battled cancer, remember loved ones lost, and fight back against a disease that takes too much."
The LLNL team continues to grow — now at 46 members — and the message of cancer awareness is spreading. Out of 469 Livermore Relay for Life participants and 63 Livermore Relay for Life teams, the LLNL team members, the team, and LLNL are way out in front. The Lab is the second largest Livermore Relay For Life team and third in donations. LLNL’s own Sharon Beall and Carolyn Hall are sixth and seventh in donations raised.
Each participant is asked to raise $100 in donations. In addition, there was a recent fundraiser at Cattlemens in Livermore where the restaurant donated 10 percent of customers’ bills to Relay For Life. Another fundraiser is scheduled at the Sideboard Café in Danville on Wednesday, May 26. Bring your family and friends and enjoy the great food and atmosphere, knowing that 10 percent of the bill will be donated to the American Cancer Society through Relay for Life.
"Cancer is ageless. Our future is in our youth's hands and health," Costella said. "Just think of the day when we can announce: The world is cancer free. Every step you take brings us one step closer to that reality."
Learn about cancer and the research the American Cancer Society is doing, the Livermore Relay For Life, get more information about our LLNL-sponsored Camp Run-a-Muck team, or contact Costella about joining the team and other information at 925-858-1036 or by VisionGrasp [at] yahoo.com ( e-mail ) .
