Closing

Whitney Rencountre II, is Hunkpati Dakota from the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe and is the Associate Director of The Indian University of North America. Whitney is the Co-Founder and Official Emcee of Social Distance Powwow. Whitney was a 2019 Honoree of Western South Dakota Child Protection Council. Whitney was named one of 605 Magazine’s South Dakota Young Leaders of 2017. Whitney is the Past Chairman of the South Dakota Humanities Council.

Whitney is also the Past Chairman of Visit Rapid City. Whitney serves on the boards for the Club for Boys, Rapid City Collective Impact and Native American Guiding Council. For 11 years, has been Director of the Ateyapi Program, a culturally based mentoring program working with over 1,000 students each year in the Rapid City Area School District. Whitney has served as the Powwow Emcee for Black Hills Powwow for 5 years, United Tribes International Powwow for 3 years, Indio California Powwow for 2 years, Black Hills State University Powwow for 2 years, Virginia Tech Powwow, UC Berkeley Powwow, University of South Dakota Powwow, University of Denver Powwow, University of Mary Powwow, South Dakota Indian Education Summit Emcee for 15 years, United Tribes Tribal Leaders Summit Emcee for 2 years and the Lakota Foods Summit Emcee.