New Kituwah Academy facts for kids

The New Kituwah Academy (also known as the Atse Kituwah Academy) is a special private school in Cherokee, North Carolina. It teaches students from kindergarten to sixth grade. The school uses both the Cherokee language and English. It is an immersion school, meaning students learn mostly in Cherokee.

The school is owned by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI). It is run by the Kituwah Preservation and Education Program (KPEP). The main goal is to help save and bring back the endangered Cherokee language. It also helps students feel proud of their Cherokee culture.

The word kituwah (ᎩᏚᏩ) is important to the Eastern Cherokee people. It can mean "center" or "mother town." It is also how they refer to themselves and their language. New Kituwah Academy is separate from the Cherokee Central Schools.

Why the Cherokee Language Needs Help

The Cherokee language is in danger of disappearing. In 2018, only about 1,520 people out of 376,000 Cherokee people could speak it. Most children are not learning the language. Very few people under 40 years old can speak Cherokee fluently. Sadly, about eight Cherokee speakers pass away each month.

The Eastern dialect of Cherokee is spoken in North Carolina. About 220 people from the Eastern Band could speak it in 2018. UNESCO says this dialect is "severely endangered." This means it is at high risk of being lost forever.

In June 2019, the three main Cherokee tribes worked together. These were the EBCI, the Cherokee Nation, and the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians. They announced that the language was in an emergency state. They asked for more programs to help bring the language back. At that time, they counted about 2,100 speakers left.

Another school like New Kituwah is the Cherokee Immersion School. It is located in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.

How the Academy Started and Works

The idea for an immersion school began in the 1990s. Cherokee Chief Joyce Dugan helped create the Cultural Resources Division of the EBCI. Other native groups, like the Māori and Hawaiians, had successful language programs. This inspired the Cherokee to start their own.

In April 2004, a preschool immersion program opened. These children became the first kindergarten class when the school officially started. Chief Michell Hicks played a big part in setting up the academy. The school moved between different buildings for a while.

A big renovation project helped create the current school building. This project cost $6.5 million. The EBCI funded most of it. A grant of $1.3 million from the Cherokee Preservation Foundation also helped.

The academy is located on a large piece of land. This land used to be a hotel and resort. New Kituwah opened its newly remodeled building on September 8, 2009. The school had its grand opening ceremony on October 7, 2009.

Cherokee instruction in a classroom at New Kituwah

Teaching the Cherokee language is very important at New Kituwah. There is a sign inside the school that says "English stops here." However, the school also teaches English in later grades. This is to meet North Carolina's education rules.

Many of the school's teachers are not fluent in Cherokee themselves. This is because there are so few fluent speakers left. As of 2019, after 15 years, the school had not yet produced a fully fluent speaker.

The school was shown in a 2014 documentary. It was called First Language: The Race to Save Cherokee. This film focused on the Cherokee dialect spoken in North Carolina.

A tribal elder named Myrtle Driver Johnson has helped the school a lot. She is a fluent speaker and a volunteer translator. She was given the title of Beloved Woman by the EBCI. For New Kituwah, Johnson translated the book Charlotte's Web. Other posters and materials in Cherokee are made by local artists.

New Kituwah received its accreditation in January 2015. This means it meets high educational standards. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools gave the accreditation.

In 2020, the Atlanta Braves baseball team released a special shirt. It had the Cherokee words ᎠᏁᏦᎥᏍᎩ, anetsovsgi, 'ball player' on it. The money from these shirts went to Kituwah and the Cherokee Speakers Council. This helped bring attention to the native language.