Visiting the New Kituwah Academy

On Tuesday we were given a tour of The New Kituwah Academy--the language immersion school here on the Boundary. This is truly one of the most inspiring places in Cherokee because of the remarkable work being done here to save the language. When here I always think of a line from a Robbie Robertson song speaking of holding on to heritage: "they don't preserve the old ways, they live it." That is certainly true at this place, where children from birth to fourth grade are immersed in the Cherokee language and tremendous teachers work with them and guide them.

A recent study showed less than 200 fluent Cherokee speakers remained, and that the overwhelming majority of these were over the age of fifty. That helps illustrate how important the work done in this school really is.