"the People's Paths!" Cherokee News Path - Sequoyah Senior Selected

***"Andrea Walkingstick, selected to work as a page during the 2008 legislative session for Oklahoma Senator Jim Wilson."***

TAHLEQUAH, Oklahoma - Andrea Walkingstick, a senior at Sequoyah Schools and citizen of the Cherokee Nation, has been selected to work as a page during the 2008 legislative session for Oklahoma Senator Jim Wilson.

“I want to know more about our government,” Walkingstick said. “I think it will be really interesting to be that close and to get to know our senators, just to see how it works.”

Walkingstick was encouraged to apply for the page program by Sequoyah government teacher Gerald Livingston. Livingston has successfully supplied the legislature with pages from Sequoyah Schools for the past eight years.

“Andrea will be good for the program because she speaks her mind and has critical thinking skills and that’s what you need for this type of thing,” Livingston said.

“I’m ready for February to get here,” Walkingstick said in anticipation of the page program. “I think I’ll get a lot out of it and it will be really fun.”

The Senate Page Program is for Oklahoma high school students in grades nine through twelve who are at least 14 years of age. A page must be sponsored by a State Senator. Each Senator has a limited number of page appointments for each legislative session. Each Senator’s office has its own criteria and often selects their own pages. While serving as pages, students are provided with a hotel room in Oklahoma City and numerous social events throughout the week. Sequoyah Schools will also provide Walkingstick with meal expenses, transportation and a business professional outfit to wear.

“I am honored that Andrea Walkingstick has agreed to serve as a page for me this session in the Oklahoma State Senate,” said Wilson. “She will get to witness politics at a state level first hand and I hope she takes away from this experience a sense of pride in herself and her state.”

Walkingstick, 18, of Tahlequah, is the daughter of DeAnne Walkingstick and has attended Sequoyah Schools since she was a freshman. She is active in track, cross-country, gifted and talented and is a member of Keys Baptist Church. She plans to continue her education at the Bill Willis Technology Center to become a licensed practical nurse. Walkingstick is an avid community volunteer and has been selected to work as an evangelistic missionary this summer in Barbados, Brazil or Nigeria.

Sequoyah Schools, a boarding school for Native American students located near Tahlequah, Okla., originated in 1871 as an orphan asylum to care for children who were orphaned by the Civil War. Now operated by the Cherokee Nation and known as Sequoyah Schools, it is named for Sequoyah, the scholar who developed the Cherokee syllabary. It is regionally and state accredited for grades 7-12 and has become the school of choice for more than 400 high school students every year. For more information call 918-453-5400.