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Students at Briggs Elementary School participating in cultural activities sponsored by the Cherokee Nation Learn and Serve program.

BRIGGS, OK - More than 100 students at Briggs Elementary School participated in a cultural event sponsored by the Cherokee Nation.

Employees of the Cherokee Cultural Resource Center and community residents worked with the students as they learned how to craft objects once used in daily life and now viewed as art forms, including stickball sticks and baskets.

"The Cornhusk dolls turned out nice", said Jessie Craig, project coordinator and school counselor, referring to the traditional Cherokee dolls mothers and grandmothers traditionally make as playthings for children. She said plans are to have students present the dolls as gifts at nursing homes for elderly residents.

"The people there really appreciate anything, and these children just love to help", Craig said.

The event was part of a Cherokee Nation Learn and Serve project known as Briggs KIDS - Kids Involved in Doing Service. Briggs KIDS is a project funded through a sub-grant from the Cherokee Nation to the school. Children from eight classrooms participated in service activities designed to enhance the education experience and promote community involvement.

Cherokee Nation Learn and Serve sub-grants for the next school year will be awarded through a competitive process to applicants who submit a service-learning project proposal. Requests for proposals will be mailed directly to schools throughout the Cherokee Nation’s fourteen-county jurisdictional area in late August. For more information, contact Donna Gourd, Cherokee Nation Learn and Serve Program, phone: 918-456-0671 (ext. 2641).