Sequoyah High School (also known as Sequoyah-Tahlequah) is a Native American

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. They have existed for many centuries, and now extend acr ...

serving students in grades 7 through 12, who are members of a federally recognized Native American tribe. The school is located in

Park Hill, Oklahoma Park Hill is an Unincorporated area, unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in southwestern Cherokee County, Oklahoma, Cherokee County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 3,909 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 ...

, with a Tahlequah post office address, - The land with the school is o
page 3

2000 Map:
page 3
/ref> - Compare the address to the CDP maps. Please note the school is ''not'' (as of 2020) in the Tahlequah city limits

and is a

Bureau of Indian Education The Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) is a division of the U.S. Department of the Interior under the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs that directs and manages education functions. Formerly known as the Office of Indian Education Programs ...

(BIE) grant school operated by the

Cherokee Nation The Cherokee Nation ( or ) is the largest of three list of federally recognized tribes, federally recognized tribes of Cherokees in the United States. It includes people descended from members of the Cherokee Nation (1794–1907), Old Cheroke ...

. Sequoyah is one of two boarding high schools for Native Americans in Oklahoma. It is a part of Sequoyah Schools ().

Background

Sequoyah Schools also has an elementary school grades pre-school through 8. Students in pre-school through grade 6 at the

Cherokee Immersion School The Cherokee Immersion School (, ''Tsalagi Tsunadeloquasdi'') is a Cherokee language immersion school in Park Hill, Oklahoma, with a Tahlequah post office address. It is for children during pre-school to grade 8. It was founded by the Cherok ...

learn in

Cherokee The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...

then begin to transition to instruction in English in grade 5. In 2007 Jeff Raymond of ''

The Oklahoman ''The Oklahoman'' is the largest daily newspaper in Oklahoma, United States, and is the only regional daily that covers the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, Greater Oklahoma City area. The Alliance for Audited Media (formerly Audit Bureau Circul ...

'' stated that the school was known to ethnic Cherokee people living throughout the United States.

History

The school was founded in 1871 by the Cherokee National Council as the Cherokee Orphan Asylum to care for the numerous orphans who came out of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. The first building on the current site of the school was erected in 1875.Conley, Robert L
''A Cherokee Encyclopedia.''
Albuquerque:

University of New Mexico Press The University of New Mexico Press (UNMP) is a university press at the University of New Mexico. It was founded in 1929 and published pamphlets for the university in its early years before expanding into quarterlies and books. Its administrativ ...

, 2007:214. (Retrieved through Google Books, 23 July 2009.) . The Cherokee National Council gave permission for acting Chief

William Charles Rogers William Charles Rogers (December 13, 1847 – November 8, 1917) was a Cherokee politician, Confederate veteran and farmer. He served as Principal Chief of Cherokee Nation from 1903 to 1917.

to sell the property (which included plus the buildings) to the

United States Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the management and conservation ...

for a sum of $5,000 in 1914. In 1925, the name of the school was changed to Sequoyah Orphan Training School to memorialize

Sequoyah Sequoyah ( ; , , or , , ; 1770 – August 1843), also known as George Gist or George Guess, was a Native American polymath and Constructed script, neographer of the Cherokee Nation. In 1821, Sequoyah completed his Cherokee syllabary, enabl ...

, a noted Cherokee who invented the

Cherokee syllabary The Cherokee syllabary is a syllabary invented by Sequoyah in the late 1810s and early 1820s to write the Cherokee language. His creation of the syllabary is particularly noteworthy as he was illiterate until its creation. He first experimen ...

. For a short time, the school was also known as Sequoyah Vocational School. During much of its early years, the school boasted an active dairy and various other farming and agricultural facilities. It was operated by the

Bureau of Indian Affairs The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), also known as Indian Affairs (IA), is a United States List of United States federal agencies, federal agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior, Department of the Interior. It is responsible for im ...

as a boarding school until 1985. In November 1985 the

resumed operations at Sequoyah High School from the

and now operates under a grant. The school now maintains of land and more than a dozen major buildings five miles (8 km) southwest of

Tahlequah, Oklahoma Tahlequah ( ; , ) is a city in Cherokee County, Oklahoma located at the foothills of the Ozark Mountains. It is part of the Green Country region of Oklahoma and was established as a capital of the 19th-century Cherokee Nation in 1839, as p ...

. Jolyn Choate began working as principal circa 2012. In 2020 the school had a lack of teachers who focused on mathematics and science. Patrick Moore served as the superintendent until he resigned in 2020.

Campus

The school is on of land, in unincorporated Cherokee County. It is southwest of Tahlequah, and has a Tahlequah postal address. In 2003 its cafeteria had a capacity of 280 and the overall campus was designed for about 300 students. The dormitories are only open to students at the high school levels.

Admissions and operations

In order to be admitted a student must possess a Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood to show membership in a

Federally Recognized Tribe A federally recognized tribe is a Native American tribe recognized by the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs as holding a government-to-government relationship with the US federal government. In the United States, the Native American tribe ...

. there are no other hard requirements for attending. In 2007 Raymond stated that the school had competitive admissions with a wait list and that "today's students clamor to get into Sequoyah". The tribal government and the BIE fully finance the school's operations, so no tuition charges are levied against students.

Curriculum

The school has specialized courses pertaining to the Cherokee people, including those on the tribe's history, the arts, the

Cherokee language file:Cherokee Speakers by County, 2000.png, 350px, Number of speakers file:Lang Status 20-CR.svg, Cherokee is classified as Critically Endangered by UNESCO's ''Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger'' Cherokee or Tsalagi (, ) is an endangere ...

and other aspects of the tribal culture. As of 2007 the State of Oklahoma requires each high school student to complete 23 credits, but the school requires each of its students to complete 28.

Demographics

School enrollment is approximately 430 students, with 47% male and 53% female students. The teacher-student ratio is 1:15. 100% of the student population is American Indian, compared to Oklahoma's state average of 18% American Indian students.Sequoyah High School.
''Public School Review.'' (retrieved 23 July 2009) In 2007 there were 436 students, with over 100 living on campus. In 2006 there were 360 students. In 2003 there were 363 students, which at the time was an enrollment high. These students originated from 16 states, and were members of 39 tribes. At the time the campus was built to accommodate about 300 students.

Athletics

The mascot is the Indian. Circa September 2005 there were rumors that the school would change the name of the mascot to the eagle. Chad Smith, the Principal Chief of the tribe, issued an executive order stating that the mascot would remain the same so long as the school board agrees. In 2006 Gina Stanley, the superintendent of Cherokee Schools, stated that the mascot has a positive reception among the students.

State championships

Sequoyah High School has won 21 state championships in seven sports:Athletics Homepage
''Sequoyah High School.'' (retrieved 25 January 2019) Powerlifting – 2016 Boys Basketball – 2003 Girls Basketball – 2005, 2006, 2007, 2015, 2017, 2018 Boys Cross Country – 1964, 1965, 1969, 1993, 1995, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 Girls Cross Country – 1992, 2005 Slow Pitch Softball – 2012 Fast Pitch Softball – 2018

Notable alumni

* Angel Goodrich, WNBA basketball player * Jackson Narcomey, painter and printmaker * Nathan Stanley, American football player * Ryan Helsley, pitcher for the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Centra ...

References

External links

Sequoyah High School
* * {{authority control Educational institutions established in 1871 Cherokee Nation buildings and structures Public high schools in Oklahoma Schools in Cherokee County, Oklahoma Native American boarding schools in Oklahoma Public middle schools in Oklahoma 1871 establishments in Indian Territory Buildings and structures in Tahlequah, Oklahoma Public boarding schools in the United States Native American history of Oklahoma