Micah Swimmer oversees a class of Eastern Band Cherokee language learners at the New Kituwah Academy in Cherokee, N.C. Behind him, a bulletin board displays the names of the few remaining fluent speakers of his Cherokee dialect.

Liz Schlemmer

Liz Schlemmer is WUNC's Education Policy Reporter, a fellowship position supported by the A.J. Fletcher Foundation. She has an M.A. from the UNC Chapel Hill School of Media & Journalism and a B.A. in history and anthropology from Indiana University.

She has previously served as a temporary Morning Edition producer and intern at WUNC and as a news intern at St. Louis Public Radio. Liz is originally from Indiana, where she grew up with a large extended family of educators.

To Save Their Endangered Language, 2 Cherokee Brothers Learn As They Teach

Liz Schlemmer

Jakeli and Micah Swimmer aren't fluent in their native Cherokee dialect, but it's an important part of their identity. "If we're not speaking Cherokee, then what are we?" Jakeli asks.