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Kendall Perry-Leach speaking at Sequoyah High School’s graduation in 2001. Perry-Leach earned a Gates Millennium Scholarship earlier this month.

TAHLEQUAH, OK - Kendall Perry-Leach, 19, of Tahlequah was recently awarded the Gates Foundation Millennium Scholarship.

Perry-Leach, a Cherokee Nation tribal member, is the daughter of Gina Sourjohn of Tahlequah and Keith Perry of Locust Grove. She is a 2001 graduate of Sequoyah High School and a freshman at Northeastern State University. She applied for the Gates scholarship while she was a senior at Sequoyah and was notified by mail earlier this month that she had been chosen as a Gates Millennium Scholar.

"Few students are awarded such a prestigious scholarship, so we feel fortunate to have a student like Kendall graduate from Sequoyah High School. We are so proud of her success", said Tony Pivec, Sequoyah High School Superintendent.

The Gates Millennium Scholarship is awarded to 1000 college freshman every year. It is paid from a grant form the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. This scholarship fund was established in 1999 to provide an education for outstanding African American, American Indian, Alaska Native, Asian, Pacific Islander, or Hispanic American students.

Students can use this scholarship to earn the undergraduate degree of their choice or to pursue graduate degrees in the fields of mathematics, science, engineering, education, or library science. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation selected these fields to fill a void in areas where ethnic and racial groups are believed to be under-represented.

"I was not expecting it, I hoped and wished for it, but didn’t expect it. I was so excited when I got it", said Perry-Leach when asked about the scholarship.

Perry-Leach has chosen to major in criminal justice and minor in sociology and Native American Studies. She also received a Regents Scholarship from NSU, a tuition fee waiver from NSU, and a Salutatorian Scholarship from Sequoyah High School to help with educational expenses. She is currently employed with the Cherokee Nation as a file clerk and hopes to secure a job with the judicial branch of the Cherokee Nation after graduating from NSU.

"I would like to thank all of my teachers at Sequoyah and Woodall and my family who has helped me throughout the years", Perry-Leach said. "They have played a big part in my winning this scholarship."

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.