DURANT, Okla. -- Southeastern Oklahoma State University's Native American Student Visitation Day is scheduled for Wednesday, February 17, 2010, at the McCurtain County branch campus in Idabel.

The event is open to high school juniors and seniors. Registration will be from 9-9:30 a.m. in the main entry to the campus in Idabel and the day concludes at 1:30 p.m. The day features a pizza lunch, and tribal and university scholarship information and degree program highlights. The first 150 students to RSVP will receive a free T-shirt.

This year's keynote speaker is Phillip Billy, a 1984 graduate of Broken Bow High School.  He received his associate of science of degree from Murray State Junior College.

He then enlisted in the United States Air Force, where he earned the rank of Sergeant.   His last duty station was K-2 Air Base, Taegu, South Korea.  Phillip earned his bacheloršs degree in social work in 1994 at the University of Oklahoma and he managed to earn a 4.0 GPA while completing his masteršs in Human Relations degree in 2007 at OU.

Phillip worked in the substance abuse and violence prevention and counseling fields for many years.  He is currently the Northern Region Leadership Training Manager for the Chickasaw Nation.

Chris Wesberry, SE's Coordinator for the Native American Center for Student Success, said, "Native American Student Visitation Day is a great event for us each year. We are taking it to the McCurtain County campus this year so that we can reach a group of students from the area that may not have otherwise been able to make the drive to our main campus in Durant.  The day gives us an opportunity to encourage Native American high school students to see what college and Southeastern is all about."

Southeastern has a long and successful history of providing higher education opportunities for Native American students. The University service area covers significant parts of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations and partners with the tribes to provide specialized services for all Native American students. Southeastern is among the national leaders in the percentage of graduates who are Native American, the overall number of Native American graduates, and Native American graduates in education and psychology.

For further information, contact Chris Wesberry at 580-745-2376 or cwesberry@SE.edu and/or speak to your high school counselor.