TULSA, Okla. – Parrish Pipestem was inducted recently into the Oklahoma Indian Student Honor Society in Tulsa, Okla. He is a member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians with Osage and Otoe-Missouria Nation heritage as well.
Every year, the Oklahoma Council of Indian Education recognizes outstanding Native American high school and college student leaders. Inductees are based on the following criteria: cumulative GPA of 3.9 or above; demonstrate service leadership through school, community, or tribal events; demonstrate high standards for ethics and moral character; and participate in Indian cultural activities.
Pipestem is in the 11th grade at Booker T. Washington High School in Tulsa.
Tulsa Public Schools Superintendent Deborah A. Gist said in a statement, “We are incredibly proud of our students for their hard work, dedication, and participation in the Indian Education program.”
In 2019, Pipestem was selected for a three-week pre-college program, through the Center for Native American Youth, at Columbia University.
Pipestem is active culturally and has participated in the Grayhorse In-Lon-Schka, an Osage Nation ceremonial dance held annually, since he was 6-years-old.
He was one of 10 people to receive a 2019-20 Dreamstarter grant from the Running Strong for American Indian Youth program with the dream of opening Pipestem Reselling.
“I found out the best ways to manually purchase items at a faster speed and higher quantity and what and where to sell different items,” Pipestem told the One Feather in 2019. “This took a lot of research and knowing the market, as well as just experience and picking up things as I went along. My idea to truly turn this into a sustainable business stems from being able to purchase Cybersole. This is a bot that can run many tasks doing what I learned how to do manually. The bot would be able to do this much more successfully and completely streamline the process of reselling.”
– One Feather staff report