By Emma Johns

OKEECHOBEE — Every year, the Okeechobee Freshman Campus honors its diverse student population by hosting Heritage Day. Each ethnicity represented at the school is invited to share their cultural background through relevant demonstrations with the student population.

On April 22, ninth-graders from the Brighton Reservation and Brighton Culture staff participated in the event. The Seminole students began their presentation with an oral representation of Seminole culture to the student body.

Each student shared his or her Indian name with fellow students. Rumor Juarez demonstrated the Creek language with a rendition of a traditional song, Michael Garcia demonstrated the Creek Pledge and Royce Osceola shared a traditional Seminole legend.

Later, students gathered outdoors to further learning about different ethnic groups represented.

The Seminole students participated by showing how to re-thatch a chickee by completely repairing the one located on campus.

The girls exhibited their knowledge of how to prepare and cook traditional pumpkin bread. The students and Culture staff also displayed an array of traditional Seminole arts and crafts.

The Seminole students were able to engage in leadership roles and share their knowledge of the Tribe by answering questions peers had about the culture of the Seminole people.

They also enjoyed sharing samples of pumpkin bread with students almost as much as their fellow students enjoyed eating the bread.