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TAHLEQUAH, OK - Sequoyah High School recently received a grant for $22,500 to place academic tutors in the dorms and to develop programs to encourage parent participation in student’s activities.

Jimmie Fite, Sequoyah High School teacher, helped to secure the grant from the Office of Juvenile Affairs.

"Ms. Jimmie Fite saw the needs of the students in the dorms, then found a means of providing for them", said Tony Pivec, Sequoyah Superintendent. "She was very instrumental in the award of this grant."

Rachel Green, Northeastern State University education instructor, has agreed to partner with Sequoyah to make the tutoring program successful. Green will assist Sequoyah High School in finding NSU education majors to work as tutors in the Sequoyah dorms. Green will also ensure that all NSU student tutors carry a 3.0 GPA in the subject that they are tutoring and she will be available to assist the tutors throughout the year.

Sequoyah will also offer healthy living and life skills classes for dorm students and their parents to attend together. School officials will also send monthly calendars featuring upcoming events and guest speakers to student’s homes, so that parents may join their child at these events.

"An important part of what we will be trying to do next year is to promote healthier lifestyles for our students", Pivec said. "Be it cessation classes, health and nutrition classes, or providing an exceptional fitness center and track, we want to help improve our student body’s health and education by creating habits that last them a lifetime. This grant is just another way to make that possible."

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.