OPA

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs David W. Anderson will speak on March 18 at 10:00 a.m. (PST) at the Chemawa Indian School, a Bureau of Indian Affairs operated off-reservation boarding school for grades 9-12 in Salem, Ore., bringing his message about the benefits of healthy life choices and positive thinking to an assembly of students, parents, faculty and staff. This is the second in a series of visits the new assistant secretary will make to BIA field offices and education facilities during his administration. He addressed students and met with school officials at Sherman Indian High School in Riverside, Calif., today.

The Chemawa Indian School is the oldest of four BIA-operated off-reservation boarding schools. The school was founded in 1880 as the Indian Industrial Training and Normal School and eventually renamed Chemawa Indian School in 1885. Chemawa’s 841 students represent dozens of tribes from 17 western states, including Alaska.

The Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs oversees the BIA school system, which educates approximately 48,000 American Indian children in 184 elementary and secondary day and boarding schools located on or near 63 reservations in 23 states.

WHO: David W. Anderson, Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs

WHAT: Anderson will visit Chemawa Indian School, an off-reservation BIA boarding school in Salem, Ore., to view facilities and meet with students, parents, faculty and school officials.

WHEN: Thursday, March 18, 2004, at 10:00 a.m. (PST) (Q&A with press to immediately follow remarks)

WHERE: Chemawa Indian School Auditorium, 3700 Chemawa Rd. N.E., Salem, Ore., Phone: (503) 399-5721

Directions: From I-5 take Keizer/Chemawa Road exit to Chemawa Road. Go east on Chemawa Road for approximately one-half mile until reaching Chemawa Indian School sign on right. Turn in and proceed to guard station.

Note to Editors: Credentialed media covering the event should be in place by 9:45 a.m. Press seating will be provided. The program will begin at 10:00 a.m.

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs David W. Anderson, in California for meetings with Bureau of Indian Affairs education line officers in San Diego, brought his message about the benefits of positive thinking and healthy choices in life to an assembly of students, parents, faculty and staff here at Sherman Indian High School, a BIA-operated off-reservation boarding school for grades 9-12. Today’s visit illustrated the new assistant secretary’s desire to visit BIA field offices and education facilities during his administration.

“Sherman students face incredible personal challenges that I, myself, have faced,” Anderson said. “I want to impress upon them what I have learned: that positive thinking and healthy life choices can empower one to build a life based on hope for a better future.”

Sherman Indian High School is one of four off-reservation boarding schools within the bureau school system. The majority of the school’s 643 students, as reported for school year 2003-2004, represent approximately 90 to 100 federally recognized tribes located in great plains, midwest and western states and Alaska with most coming from reservation and urban communities in Arizona, California and New Mexico.

Given the variety of tribes and backgrounds they come from, Sherman students are situated in an environment that respects their tribal cultures and values, meets their health and safety needs and provides them with a well-grounded educational experience.

The Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs has responsibility for fulfilling the department’s trust responsibilities to individual and tribal trust beneficiaries, as well as promoting tribal self-determination, self-governance and economic development for the nation’s 562 federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribes and their 1.8 million members.

The Assistant Secretary also oversees the BIA, the 180-year old agency that provides services to individual American Indians and Alaska Natives from the federally recognized tribes, and the BIA school system. The school system serves approximately 48,000 American Indian children in 184 elementary and secondary day and boarding schools located on or near 63 reservations in 23 states. The BIA directly operates one-third of these schools and the remaining two-thirds are tribally operated under BIA contracts or grants.

SALEM, Ore. – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs David W. Anderson shared his message of hope and the philosophies he credits for the personal and business successes in his life at a visit today with the students, faculty and staff of Chemawa Indian School, a Bureau of Indian Affairs-operated boarding school for grades 9-12 located just outside of the city of Salem. This was the new assistant secretary’s first visit to the school since his swearing-in last month.

“Chemawa students, like other young people, continually face difficult choices that impact their lives and their families,” Anderson said. “They are vital members of our national Indian community and possess a tremendous source of untapped potential. By teaching all BIA students the benefits of positive thinking and how to make healthy life choices, I believe we can empower them to realize that potential.”

Anderson also continued to emphasize his belief in the benefits of healthy life choices and positive thinking with the BIA school’s students. Chemawa is the second in a series of visits Anderson plans to make to BIA field offices and education facilities during his administration. He addressed students and met with school officials at Sherman Indian High School in Riverside, Calif., yesterday.

The Chemawa Indian School is the oldest of four BIA-operated off-reservation boarding schools. The school was founded in 1880 as the Indian Industrial Training and Normal School and eventually renamed Chemawa Indian School in 1885. Chemawa’s 287 students represent dozens of tribes from 17 western states, including Alaska.

The Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs has responsibility for fulfilling the department’s trust responsibilities to individual and tribal trust beneficiaries, as well as promoting tribal self-determination, self-governance and economic development for the nation’s 562 federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribes and their 1.8 million members.

The Assistant Secretary also oversees the BIA, the 180-year old agency that provides services to individual American Indians and Alaska Natives from the federally recognized tribes, and the BIA school system. The school system serves approximately 48,000 American Indian children in 184 elementary and secondary day and boarding schools located on or near 63 reservations in 23 states. The BIA directly operates one-third of these schools and the remaining two-thirds are tribally operated under BIA contracts or grants.

WASHINGTON – Secretary Gale Norton and Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs David W. Anderson today announced that the Bureau of Indian Affairs has been awarded $32.4 million in three grants from the U.S. Department of Education to improve student reading, school performance and teacher quality in BIA-funded schools under President Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Starting this year, over 12,000 students will benefit from funds to help them improve their academic performance and support their institutions’ efforts to achieve adequate yearly progress as stipulated by the act.

“The No Child Left Behind Act is the president’s commitment that all federally funded schools must provide students with a quality education,” Norton said. “BIA students and parents can expect that our schools also will carry forward that vision.”

“I can think of no better initiatives in our schools than the Reading First program to instill a love of reading in the youngest students, the Improving Basics program for those schools working hard to meet their progress goals and the Improving Teacher Quality program to challenge our teachers to become the best they can be,” Anderson said. “Through these programs, our schools now have a chance to realize President Bush’s vision for themselves and their students.”

Last November, the BIA was awarded $30.4 million for a six-year grant under the Reading First program, the centerpiece of President Bush’s historic education reform law, to use scientifically proven instruction methods to improve reading proficiency by BIA students in grades K-3. The Reading First program reflects the president’s emphasis on the importance of reading to student academic achievement.

Today, the BIA is releasing the first installments of these funds to 22 eligible schools under three-year subgrants. They can apply again with other schools during a second round of the competitive process for a shot at another three-year funding award. In fiscal year 2004, BIA funded schools will receive Reading First subgrants ranging from $97,170 to $417,000 depending on a school’s needs, number of students served and design of its reading program.

In addition, the BIA was awarded $1.5 million under Title I, Part A of the act to provide subgrants for technical assistance and training to schools in need of improvement. In fiscal year 2004, at least 21 BIA-funded schools will receive Improving Basics subgrants of up to $115,143 to help them meet student academic achievement standards, assist teachers to enable low-performing students to meet challenging standards, provide services to children with limited English proficiency or disabilities, help meet highly qualified teacher requirements and to encourage greater parent involvement and professional development.

The No Child Left Behind Act supports having highly qualified teachers in the classroom as essential to increasing student academic achievement. Under Title II, Part A of the act, the BIA has received $359,054 to provide Improving Teacher Quality subgrants to aid schools in teacher development and mentoring. In fiscal year 2004, at least 16 schools will receive subgrants of up to $30,000 with funding amounts based on student population.

The Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs has responsibility for fulfilling the department’s trust responsibilities to individual and tribal trust beneficiaries, as well as promoting tribal self-determination, self-governance and economic development for the nation’s 562 federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribes and their 1.8 million members.

The Assistant Secretary also oversees the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the 180-year old agency that provides services to individual American Indians and Alaska Natives from the federally recognized tribes, and the BIA school system. The school system serves approximately 48,000 American Indian children in 184 elementary and secondary day and boarding schools located on or near 63 reservations in 23 states. In school year 2002-2003, the BIA directly operated one-third of these schools and the remaining two-thirds were tribally operated under BIA contracts or grants.

Note to Editors: Lists of funded schools accompany this press release and may be viewed via the Department’s website at www.doi.gov.

NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ACT OF 2001

TITLE I, PART A, IMPROVING BASIC PROGRAMS

FY 2004 BIA SUBGRANT RECIPIENTS

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs David W. Anderson today announced he has issued a Notice of Proposed Finding to decline to acknowledge that the Burt Lake Band of Ottawa and Chippewa, Inc. (BLB), from Brutus, Mich., a petitioner under the federal acknowledgment process, exists as an Indian tribe within the meaning of federal law. The proposed finding is based on a determination that the Burt Lake Band of Ottawa and Chippewa, Inc. (“petitioner”) does not meet four of seven mandatory criteria for federal acknowledgment under 25 CFR Part 83, the federal acknowledgment regulations, and therefore does not meet the requirements for a government-to-government relationship with the United States.

The BLB petitioner does not meet criterion 83.7(a), which requires that it have been identified as an American Indian entity on a substantially continuous basis since 1900. The case record contains some identifications prior to 1956 of an Indian settlement at Burt Lake or an Indian entity consisting of descendants of the historical band. The petitioner did not submit required identifications of an Indian entity between 1956 and 1978. A Burt Lake band organization that has become the current petitioner has been identified since 1978. Since 1984 identifications of that Indian entity have identified a group that consists of descendants of the “Cheboygan band” at Burt Lake plus descendants of a John B. Vincent, a ship’s carpenter in the town of Cheboygan, Mich., who was an allottee within the Cheboygan reserve, but left no evidence that he was an Indian of the Cheboygan band.

The petitioner does not meet criterion 83.7(b), which requires that a predominant portion of the petitioning group comprise a distinct community from historical times until the present. The descendants of the Cheboygan band lived in an exclusive Indian village until 1900, and then on Indian Road, near Burt Lake, until at least 1938. However, the Cheboygan band descendants and the Vincent descendants never formed a single social community or even two separate communities that amalgamated. Persons born at that settlement before 1940 are elderly, and it is not known if younger people maintain social ties to each other and to the few residents still living on Indian Road.

The petitioner does not meet criterion 83.7(c), which requires that it has maintained political influence over members as an autonomous entity from historical times until the present. Acknowledgment precedent accepts that political authority was maintained within historical Indian villages, such as one on Burt Lake before 1900. Between 1900 and 1977, sporadic political activity may have involved Burt Lake descendants, but evidence is ambiguous as to whether it shows bilateral political relationships and political authority for a distinct Burt Lake entity. In 1977, the descendants of the Burt Lake band organized. In 1984, a descendant of John Vincent joined and immediately became chairman. He was the first Vincent descendant to ever participate in a political activity of Burt Lake Indians.

The petitioner does not meet criterion 83.7(e), which requires that its members descend from a historical Indian tribe or from tribes that combined and functioned as a single autonomous political entity. Only 46 percent of 490 current members descend from historical individuals identified as a “Burt Lake band” on the 1870 annuity list of the Ottawa and Chippewa Indians of Michigan. This level of descent from the historical tribe – 46 percent − is not sufficient to meet the criterion.

The petitioner, however, does meet criterion 83.7(f), which requires that a petitioning group be composed principally of persons who are not members of any acknowledged North American Indian tribe. Although a total of 50 of the 490 current members of the BLB petitioner are also members of the federally acknowledged Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians or the Sault Ste. Marie Band of Chippewa Indians without having formally relinquished their membership in the petitioner, 90 percent of the group is not enrolled in a federally recognized tribe. The petitioner also has met two other criteria for federal acknowledgment: criterion 83.7(d), by having submitted a copy of its governing document and membership criteria, and criterion 83.7(g), because it has never been the subject of congressional legislation terminating or forbidding the federal relationship.

Furthermore, the proposed finding concludes that the petitioner is not eligible to be evaluated under provisions in the regulations for previously acknowledged entities (section 83.8). This conclusion revises a preliminary determination that the petitioner was previously acknowledged as a tribe as recently as 1917. This change is based on a finding that most of the petitioner’s members do not descend from the previously acknowledged entity, and that the petitioner is not the tribal entity that was previously acknowledged. This finding may result from recent substantial changes in the petitioner’s membership. An evaluation under section 83.7 does not result in a different finding. Whether the petitioner is eligible to be evaluated under section 83.8 of the regulations is subject to reconsideration at the time of the final determination.

The Notice of Proposed Finding on Burt Lake Band of Ottawa and Chippewa, Inc. will be published in the Federal Register. As provided by 25 CFR 83.10(i), the petitioner or any individual or organization wishing to challenge or support the proposed finding shall have 180 days after the notice’s publication date to submit arguments and evidence to rebut or support the proposed finding before any final determination is issued.

The Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs has responsibility for fulfilling the Interior Department’s trust responsibilities and promoting self-determination on behalf of the 562 federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribal governments. The Assistant Secretary also oversees the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which is responsible for providing services to approximately 1.8 million individual American Indians and Alaska Natives from the federally recognized tribes, and the Office of Federal Acknowledgment (OFA), which is responsible for administering the federal acknowledgment process.

Note to Editors: The abbreviated version of the Mandatory Criteria for Federal Acknowledgment that accompanies this press release may be viewed via the Department’s website at www.doi.gov.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs David W. Anderson and Office of Indian Education Programs Director Edward F. Parisian are traveling this week to North and South Dakota as part of their continuing tour of Bureau of Indian Affairs funded schools. Starting today, Anderson and Parisian will be attending an honor roll banquet at the Turtle Mountain High School in Belcourt, N.D., where the assistant secretary will stress the importance of encouraging and inspiring all BIA students to grow through learning.

“Every child should have the opportunity to reach their potential,” Anderson said. “Our schools must help students climb the academic ladder, regardless of which rung they’re on, and prepare them to become contributing members of their families and tribes.”

In addition to their appearance at Turtle Mountain High School, the assistant secretary and OIEP director will spend several hours this week meeting with students, parents, faculty and staff at schools on the Pine Ridge Reservation, Cheyenne River Reservation and Lower Brule Reservation in South Dakota.

“BIA schools are vital centers of learning for the communities they serve,” Parisian said. “Our mission to bring accountability and high standards into every classroom has never been more urgently needed to help students realize their maximum learning potential.”

DAY ONE: Monday, April 5, 2004

Location: Turtle Mountain High School, a BIA-funded, tribally-operated grant day school for grades 9-12 in Belcourt, N.D. Student population: 530 (school year 2003-2004).

Activities: Attend honor roll banquet and meet with students, parents, faculty and staff.

DAY TWO: Tuesday, April 6, 2004

Location: Pine Ridge School, a BIA-operated on-reservation boarding school for grades K-12 in Pine Ridge, S.D. Student population: 1,063 (school year 2003-2004).

Activities: Meet with students, parents, faculty and staff and visit local Boys and Girls Club.

DAY THREE: Wednesday, April 7, 2004

Location: Cheyenne-Eagle Butte School, a BIA-operated cooperative boarding school for grades K-12 in Eagle Butte, S.D. Student population: 906 (school year 2003-2004).

Activities: Speak at assembly, tour school and meet with students, parents, faculty and staff.

DAY FOUR: Thursday, April 8, 2004

Location: Lower Brule Day School, a BIA-funded, tribally-operated grant day school for grades K-12 in Lower Brule, S.D. Student population: 293 (school year 2003-2004).

Activities: Speak at assembly, tour school and meet with students, parents, faculty and staff.

The Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs oversees the BIA, the 180-year old agency that provides services to individual American Indians and Alaska Natives from the federally recognized tribes, and the BIA school system. The school system serves approximately 48,000 American Indian children in 184 elementary and secondary day and boarding schools located on or near 63 reservations in 23 states. The BIA directly operates one-third of these schools and the remaining two-thirds are tribally operated under BIA contracts or grants.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs David W. Anderson will speak on April 20, 2004 at the Baca/Dlo’ay azhi Community School, a Bureau of Indian Affairs operated day school located in Prewitt, N.M., on the Navajo Nation reservation, at a ceremony celebrating the school’s designation as both the first Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEEDTM) building in the state and the first BIA school to be a “green” certified building. The certification was issued by the U.S. Green Building Council, a coalition of building industry leaders that promotes environmentally responsible design, construction and maintenance for private, public and commercial buildings.

Anderson will be joined by Lt. Col. Dana Hurst, commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Albuquerque District and USGBC Chairman John Harzfeld, as well as students and school officials, and representatives from the Navajo Nation. Also represented at the event will be local firms who collaborated with Army Corps of Engineers and the BIA’s Office of Facilities Management and Construction on the project: Dyron Murphy Architects PC, Bradbury Stamm Construction Inc., Environmental Dynamics Inc. and Southwest Commissioning Services LLC.

The Baca/Dlo’ay azhi Community School serves 419 students in grades K-6 from the Prewitt, Haystack and Thoreau communities on the Navajo Nation reservation. It is one of 184 BIA funded elementary and secondary day and boarding schools located on or near 63 reservations in 23 states serving approximately 48,000 students.

WHO: David W. Anderson, Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior

WHAT: Anderson will speak at a ceremony to celebrate the designation of the Baca/Dlo’ay azhi Community School, located in the town of Prewitt on the Navajo Nation Reservation in northwestern New Mexico, as both the first U.S. Green Building Council LEED^TM certified building in the state and in the BIA school system.

WHEN: Tuesday, April 20, 2004 starting at 11:15 a.m. (all times are local time)

The following events are open to press:

11:15 a.m.: Tour school and visit classrooms

12:15 p.m.: Lunch with students (Location: Cafeteria)

1:00 p.m.: Presentation of LEED^TM Certification (Location: Gymnasium) Performance by Baca/Dlo’ay azhi School Indian Club student members

Speakers will include (in order of presentation):

• Jacque Mangham, Master of Ceremonies and Principal, Baca/Dlo’ay azhi Community School
• Lt. Col. Dana Hurst, Commander, Albuquerque District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
• John Harzfeld, Chair, U.S. Green Building Council
• David W. Anderson, Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior

2:00 p.m.: Tree planting (Location: Schoolyard)

WHERE: Baca/Dlo’ay azhi Community School

Directions from Albuquerque, N.M., or Gallup, N.M.:

• Take Exit 63 North off of I-40 (exit is 11 miles East of Thoreau and 19 miles West of Grants, N.M.).
• When exiting, go North to Hwy. 66 (approximately one-quarter mile).
• School will be on the left (school is adjacent to I-40).

CREDENTIALS: Press registration and lunch will be provided. Please bring your sanctioned media credentials and if possible, wear on your shirt collar or around your neck for easy viewing. This will assist our staff. Press seating will be provided.

WASHINGTON - Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs David W. Anderson will bring his message about the benefits of positive thinking and making healthy life choices to an assembly of students, parents, faculty and staff at Sequoyah High School, a contract school for grades 9-12 operated by the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. It is the ninth school in a series of visits Anderson plans to make to BIA field offices and education facilities during his administration.

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 who came out of the civil war. In 1914, the Cherokee Orphan Training School and 40 acres were sold to the United States Department of the Interior to be operated as a Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding school. In 1985, the Cherokee Nation resumed the operation of Sequoyah High School from the BIA under a contract/grant and is regionally and state accredited for grades 9-12.

The Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs oversees the BIA school system, which educates approximately 48,000 American Indian children in 184 elementary and secondary day and boarding schools located on or near 63 reservations in 23 states.

WHO: David W. Anderson, Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs

WHAT: Anderson will visit Sequoyah High School to meet with students, parents, faculty and school officials, and to tour the facilities.

WHEN: Wednesday, April 21, 2004, at 1:30 a.m. (CST)

WHERE: Sequoyah High School Gym, Highway 62, five miles south of Tahlequah, OK

Note to Editors: Credentialed media covering the event should be in place by 12.45 p.m. Press seating will be provided. The program will begin at 1:30 a.m.

(Prewitt, N.M.) – In an Earth Day celebratory event on the Navajo Nation reservation, Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs David W. Anderson today praised the Baca/Dlo’ay azhi Community School, a Bureau of Indian Affairs operated day school located in Prewitt, N.M., for being designated the first Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEEDTM) certified building in the state and the BIA school system by the U.S. Green Building Council. The school, which opened on August 28, 2003 as a replacement facility for the BIA’s Baca Day School and Thoreau Boarding School, serves 419 students in grades K-6 from the Prewitt, Haystack and Thoreau communities on the Navajo reservation.

“I want to congratulate the Baca/Dlo’ay azhi Community School on its designation as the first LEEDTM certified BIA school and as the first ‘green’ building in the state of New Mexico,” Anderson said. “Baca has set a new standard for future BIA replacement schools: to provide a healthy, environmentally friendly and culturally sensitive setting for BIA students to learn in.”

Anderson was joined by Baca principal Jacque Mangham in accepting the LEEDTM certification plaque from John Harzfeld, chairman of the USGBC, a national coalition of building industry leaders that promotes environmentally responsible design, construction and maintenance for private, public and commercial buildings.

Participants at the certification ceremony also included Lt. Col. Dana Hurst, commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Albuquerque District; representatives from the Navajo Nation; and students and school officials. Also represented were the local firms Dyron Murphy Architects PC, Bradbury Stamm Construction Inc., Environmental Dynamics Inc. and Southwest Commissioning Services LLC, all of whom collaborated on the project with the Corps and the BIA’s Office of Facilities Management and Construction.

LEEDTM certification is the distinction given to buildings that are built using Sustainable Design Concepts as defined by the USGBC. As a LEEDTM certified building, Baca/Dlo’ay azhi Community School provides better indoor air quality by limiting sources of construction contaminants, isolating dust and other pollutants, and incorporating a Green Housekeeping Program. Due to its ‘greening’ design and construction, Baca also will see a reduction in its utility expenses and a reduction in building water use that will help with local water conservation efforts.

The Baca/Dlo’ay azhi Community School project is unique for several reasons. First, it was the first collaborative effort between the Department of the Interior and the Army Corps of Engineers. Second, the design, construction and operation of the Baca School building minimized negative environmental impacts and energy demands. Third, the school is a lesson in sustainable design while embodying elements sacred to Navajo culture. Finally, as a project that consolidated two existing schools into one unified school, Baca enjoyed a strong commitment by the school board and surrounding communities. A portion of one of the older schools will be preserved for a community center.

In terms of design alone, the Baca/Dlo’ay azhi Community School incorporates a number of elements that honor the Navajo culture. For example, the building’s main entrance faces east to greet the morning sun, symbolizing the beginning of life. Its four wings, which surround a central core, represent the four directions of north, south, east and west and are painted to coincide with sacred colors attributed by the Navajo people to each direction.

In 2000, the OFMC adopted the USGBC’s Sustainable Design Concepts under the LEEDTM rating system for all future BIA replacement schools.

The Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs oversees the BIA, the 180-year old agency that provides services to individual American Indians and Alaska Natives from the federally recognized tribes, and the BIA school system. The school system serves approximately 48,000 American Indian children in 184 elementary and secondary day and boarding schools located on or near 63 reservations in 23 states. The BIA directly operates one-third of these schools and the remaining two-thirds are tribally operated under BIA contracts or grants.

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – As part of his continuing visits to Bureau of Indian Affairs schools, Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs David W. Anderson today regaled students, staff and faculty of Sequoyah High School, a BIA-funded facility for grades 9-12 operated by the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, with his experiences and expertise that have ultimately led to both personal and business success for the highest-ranking American Indian at the Interior Department. At the same time, Anderson repeated his message about the beneficial impact that healthy life choices and positive thinking can have for young people and their future lives.

“It is vital that BIA students believe in themselves as contributing members of their families, schools and communities, Anderson said. “Building self-esteem through positive thinking and healthy life choices not only can make education more rewarding, it also can change the course of one’s life for the better, as I, myself, have learned.”

The Sequoyah High School was originally established by the Cherokee Nation in 1871 as an asylum for children orphaned by the Civil War. In 1914, then known as the Cherokee Orphan Training School, the facility was sold along with 40 acres to the Interior Department to operate as a BIA boarding school. In 1925, its name was changed to the Sequoyah Orphan Training School in honor of the tribe’s most famous member who developed the Cherokee Syllabary. The school was later known as the Sequoyah Vocational School. In 1985, the Cherokee Nation reassumed direct operation of the school, now known as Sequoyah High School, with funding from the BIA. The institution is regionally and state accredited.

Anderson began his visits to the BIA schools in March with appearances at the Sherman Indian High School in Riverside, Calif., and Chemawa Indian School in Salem, Ore. Earlier this month he visited the Turtle Mountain High School in Belcourt, N.D., and schools on the Pine Ridge Reservation, Cheyenne River Reservation and Lower Brule Reservation in South Dakota.

The Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs oversees the BIA, the 180-year old agency that provides services to 1.8 million individual American Indians and Alaska Natives from the 562 federally recognized tribes, and the BIA school system. The school system serves approximately 48,000 American Indian children in 184 elementary and secondary day and boarding schools located on or near 63 reservations in 23 states. The BIA directly operates one-third of these schools and the remaining two-thirds are tribally operated under BIA contract or grant.