Thirty-three Indian high school students are among 700 youngsters from all over the country, representing the National Association of Student Councils in a leadership workshop scheduled June 16 through June 30, in the Washington, D.C. and Baltimore areas.
The workshop is sponsored annually by the National Association of Secondary School Principals, but this is the first time that Indian students have been involved, the result of a working agreement recently completed between the Principals' group and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Indian tribes represented by the Indians include Navajo, Apache, Crow, Papago, Yakima, Gros Ventre, Choctaw, Cherokee, Pueblo, and Sioux. Alaska Natives will be represented by an Eskimo.
The students home residences range from Point Barrow, Alaska through Montana, Arizona, New Mexico, the Dakotas, Oklahoma and Mississippi.
For the Indian students the first week has included an orientation program in Washington about the Workshops, about the Nation's capital, and Government generally.
They have met with various Congressmen, including members of the Indian Affairs Committees, and visited the Senate Office Building.
Another highlight of the week included a special luncheon given for them Wednesday, June 18, at the National Educational Association headquarters, which Assistant Secretary of the Interior Harrison Loesch attended.
For the second week of the Workshop, beginning June 23 at Baltimore's Perry Hall High School, the Indians will join their counterparts from non-Indian schools.
All students are officers of the student bodies of their schools.
Assistant BIA Commissioner Charles N. Zellers, who heads up the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Education Office, will be the keynote speaker on June 23, stressing the importance of student involvement in the total operation of the school system.
Following the adjournment of the Conference June 26 the Indian students will return to Washington for a Friday Seminar on Federal, local and school government, a Saturday picnic in Rock Creek park, and a Sunday baseball game, before returning to their homes
