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SHS Cherokee Challenge Bowl team members are, from left to right in the front row: Ryan Sierra, Sarah Holcomb, Cassandra Smith and B.J. Frogg. Back row, Michael Holcomb and Jim Carey, team sponsor.

TAHLEQUAH, OKLAHOMA - Nineteen teams of youngsters from area high schools recently gathered together to test their Cherokee knowledge in the annual Cherokee Challenge Bowl sponsored by the Cherokee Nation.

"The competition focused on content related to Cherokee history, culture, government and language," said Michael Smith, with the Cherokee Nation education department.

The Grove Red Chiefs from Grove High School in Grove, Okla., won the top spot in the ninth though twelfth grade division. First place team members are Zach Barnes, Tyler Dozier, Tim Steen, MacKenzie Bird, and Molly Steen. The second place Sequoyah A-ni-ja-la-gi team members from Sequoyah High School in Tahlequah, Okla., are Ryan Sierra, Michael and Sarah Holcomb, Cassandra Smith, and B. J. Frogg. Third place Fort Gibson Se-lu team members from Fort Gibson High School in Fort Gibson, Okla., are John Henderson, Amy Rowan, Samantha Mansfield, Christian Kutz, and Lindsey Conrad.

Winners will receive prizes at the awards ceremony on April 14 at the Southern Hills Marriott Hotel in Tulsa.

Sequoyah High School "Home of the Indians!" P.O. Box 520, Tahlequah, OK 74465             Sequoyah High School Alumni P.O. Box 187, Park Hill, OK 74451-0187 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.