A group of students from Illinois State University spent the past month learning about historic Cherokee towns. The students, participants in the university’s Archaeological Field School, studied Cherokee towns and mounds such as Cowee and presented their findings to the Cherokee community on Wednesday, June 25 at the Yellowhill Community Building.

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians became the first tribe in Region IV of the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement to run its own program when it took over those services in 2012. And, that decision has paid off…literally. For their efforts, the EBCI Tribal Child Support program and Chief Justice Bill Boyum were given awards by Jerry Sweet, president of the National Tribal Child Support Association.