Sequoyah High School is a magnet for Native students

TAHLEQUAH, Okla.- Sequoyah High School's team name, the Indians, doesn't bother anyone here-all the students are Indian.
The Native American boarding school operated by the Cherokee Nation this year has a record-high enrollment of 363 students, who come from 39 tribes and 16 states.
"We are accepting as many applications as we possibly can," said school superintendent Tony Pivec. "We are exploring other possibilities to accommodate more students, and we have created a waiting list so that if one student leaves, we can accommodate another."
Sequoyah High School Principal Gina Stanley agrees.
"It's awesome, although I like where we are right now," Stanley said. "This way the teachers will still have a chance to get to know the students. We're not too small and not too big."
They are a little cramped at the start of the new school year, though. The facilities on campus were designed for only 300 students, and the maximum seating in the cafeteria is limited to 280.
The high school is located five miles southwest of Tahlequah-capital of the Cherokee Nation-and houses about a dozen buildings on its 90 acres of picturesque greenery.
The students said Sequoyah, with its small campus and a 100 percent Native American enrollment, contributes to their growing and learning on campus.
Darcy Medicine Horse, 17, a senior and member of the Crow Tribe from Crow Agency, Mont., said he feels he fits in better here because all of the students are Native American.
"I grew up around a lot of Indians and now school feels the same," Medicine Horse said. "My old school didn't offer most of the opportunities that Sequoyah does."
Medicine Horse, who is involved in many extracurricular activities, including Honoring Our People's Existence, or HOPE, said Native American history is his favorite subject.
He has attended Sequoyah for the past two years and said he has only gotten homesick a couple of times. He plans on visiting his family twice this year compared to three times last year. Medicine Horse said he has a lot of friends now and that makes it easier.
"My most memorable moment at Sequoyah will have to be my first week here," Medicine Horse said.
"No one knew me, but when people talked to me, they said, 'You sound like that guy from 'Smoke Signals,' " referring to the popular film by Native American novelist Sherman Alexie.
Another senior, Ashley Wilson, 18, of the nearby Osage Tribe, said she also feels she fits in better at Sequoyah than she did at her former high school, Ponca City High School in Ponca City, Okla.
"Sequoyah is the best thing that ever happened to me," Wilson said with a smile. "I feel I fit in better here because everyone knows what it's like to be Indian. We all like going to powwows and on trips, and we have common values."
Wilson said her favorite class is the college prep course. It allows students to search for scholarships on the Internet, write letters to request information from colleges, work on scholarship essays and apply to colleges.
The school has a high percentage of students-60 to 65 percent-who go on to college following graduation. Most of the graduates enroll in Northeastern State University, the major four-year university in Tahlequah.
"Our staff is committed to challenging the students and getting to know them," said Stanley, the principal. "We offer demanding college prep courses to get the students ready."
This story and other stories by Christina Good Voice are also accessible at www.reznetnews.org