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Bell students playing basketball on their new gym floor.

BELL, OKLAHOMA - The Cherokee Nation chose Bell School to share a part of a $1 million diabetes prevention grant. The Cherokee Nation awarded Bell School with $32,000 in which to use for physical fitness equipment for students and the Bell community.

"I don’t think there would be any doubt that we could partner with the Cherokee Nation on things such as this grant in the future", said Jim Henson, superintendent of Bell School.

Bell used the grant money to put in a new gymnasium floor and widen and re-surface the track to make a 6-lane, ¼ mile track for students and members of the community to use.

The Cherokee Nation selected Bell School as one of seventeen schools to share in a $1 million diabetes prevention grant. Schools that applied for this grant had to submit a plan for improving their existing physical activity program or starting a new one. The Cherokee Nation distributed the grant as a form of diabetes prevention among Native American people. Schools with a high number of Native American students were given top priority in the selection process.

"This might have been possible, one day, but it would be many years from today", Henson said. "Now we are able to hold P.E. and county track meets and 3 on 3 tournaments in our new gym."

Related contact information:

Mike Miller, Cherokee Nation Director of Communications Phone: 918-456-0671 (ext.2210) Fax: 918-458-5580 E-mail: Communications@cherokee.org Larry Daugherty, Advertising Manager Cherokee Nation - Public Affairs Phone 918-456-0671 (Ex.2324) E-mail: ldaugherty@cherokee.org

Steven Swogger, Agriculture Liaison Natural Resources Department Phone: 918-456-0671 (ext.2546) FAX: 918-458-7673 E-mail: sswogger@cherokee.org Bradley D. Peak, Cherokee Nation Natural Resources Specialist Phone: 918-456-0671 (ex.2843) E-mail: bpeak@cherokee.org