The Chikasha Academy Adult Immersion Program teaches dedicated Chickasaws their ancestral language. The goal of the intensive, three-year, 40-hours-per-week program is to create a cohort of fluent speakers who will eventually teach the language to new learners.

The program is taught by second language and master-level fluent speakers who teach conversational skills, vocabulary and more. Students also learn from elders who share stories in the Chickasaw language and pass on their knowledge. "Immersion learning is the way to do it," says Academy student Elias Brown.” Just within a couple months of immersion learning, you're going to be able to speak, you're going to be able to string together your sentences."

Participants in the program hope that by the end of the Decade of Chickasaw Language, the Chickasaw-speaking community will grow. "The language is now a piece of me and it's never going anywhere," says Elias. "But now my responsibility is to pass this on to my kids and let them carry this torch forward."