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Georgeann McCaleb, Neil McCaleb, Kaysey Crawford, Brittany Murray, and Chad Smith after planting the dogwood tree on the Sequoyah High School campus.

TAHLEQUAH, OK - The head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs honored Sequoyah High School students for their environmental awareness during an Earth Day assembly.

"Indian people celebrate Earth Day everyday," Neal McCaleb said. "The rest of the population looks to us for guidance and direction in caring for the Earth."

Sequoyah High School science classes prepared for Earth Day by planting flowering shrubs and plants in flowerbeds along the sidewalks of the Sequoyah campus. The beautification project took forty-five students and two teachers to complete. The Sequoyah High School chapter of American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) also participated in a recycling project, in honor of Earth Day.

"We just have a great bunch of students and teachers here at Sequoyah," said Tony Pivec, Sequoyah Superintendent.

The students were honored for their hard work at an assembly in the gymnasium. McCaleb spoke to the students about the value of setting goals and the importance of taking care of the environment.

Chad Smith, Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, presented the students with t-shirts for their hard work.

After the conclusion of the ceremony, students went outside where McCaleb and Smith planted a dogwood tree with SHS students Kaysey Crawford and Brittany Murray. "We are a part of nature, we have to take care of the environment and take care of ourselves," McCaleb said.

Sequoyah High School "Home of the Indians!"       Sequoyah High School, an Indian boarding school, originated in 1871, when the Cherokee National Council passed an act setting up an orphan asylum to take care of many orphans that came out of the Civil War. Sequoyah High School's approximate 300 enrollment represents 42 tribes and 14 different states. Students are eligible to attend if they are members of federally recognized Indian tribes or one-fourth blood descendants of such members.