Perkins-Tryon schools and the Iowa Tribe held the first-ever Native Games last Thursday, inviting a number of area schools to attend. A total of five participated, including Perkins-Tryon. The others were Chandler, Agra, McLoud and Cushing, according to Chandler Schools.
The students competed in a variety of games such as kickball, a stick horse relay, run and yell and corn hole. Cushing ended up taking home first place, though, according to participants, everyone had a good time. The hope is that the winning team will return the plaque the next year to pass on to the new winner.
Agra brought the least amount of students at six, but they had a good experience, said Indian Education director Angela Smith.
“It’s a good experience anytime we can connect the students to their culture,” she said. “Most of our students, they don’t live near their tribe and they lose the connection.”
She said her students fought hard even though they were outnumbered and had to borrow teammates from other schools in some events like kickball.
She believes, at the very least, they weren’t last place.
Sophomore Andrew Howard, who is Cherokee, said he most enjoyed kickball, lunch and the relay race. He added that it was fun and good to get Native American students from around the area together.
“It’s good to get other students together and associate with each other. Maybe you can get better connections later on. Just make friends,” he said.
Chandler had one of the bigger groups at the Native Games, with 15 students attending.
Sophomore Serenity Frazer, who is an official member of the Chickasaw tribe but also Choctaw, Creek and Blackfoot, said the event was fun.
“We got to meet new people from different tribes and inside the community,” she said. Frazer added that it was important to get back into their culture after the long history of it being snuffed out.
“It feels nice to get represented more instead of just by the casinos… as kids and stuff,” senior Ally Baxter added. She’s a member of the Choctaw nation and also Creek and Mississippi Creek. She said she hopes they add more Native American games to the mix next year.
“I feel like if they added actual Native games in there, it would get us more connected,” Baxter said.
Frazer said that she hoped the event became more than just playing games and bigger.
“Maybe even one day we might have Oklahoma City schools coming or Tulsa schools. Bigger schools,” she said.