Sequoyah High School (Oklahoma)

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Sequoyah High School is a Native American boarding school serving students in grades 7-12 who are members of a federally recognized Native American tribe. The school is located in Tahlequah, Oklahoma and is owned and operated by the Cherokee Nation.

The school was founded in 1871 by the Cherokee National Council as an orphan asylum to care for the numerous orphans who came out of the Civil War.

The Cherokee National Council gave permission for acting Chief William C. Rogers to sell the property (which included 40 acres plus the buildings) to the United States Department of the Interior for a sum of $5,000. In 1925, the name of the school was changed to Sequoyah Orphan Training School to memorialize Sequoyah, a noted Cherokee who invented the Cherokee syllabary.

For a short time, the school was also known as Sequoyah Vocational School. During much of its early years, the school boasted an active dairy and various other farming and agricultural facilities.

In November of 1985 the Cherokee Nation resumed operations at Sequoyah High School from the Bureau of Indian Affairs and now operates under a grant. The school now maintains 90 acres of land and more than a dozen major buildings five miles southwest of Tahlequah, Oklahoma.