The district was recently invited to present to the New York State Board of Regents, and the presentation left a lasting impression at the state level.

“The work happening in your district is exemplary. We wanted to uplift it and share it with the entire Board of Regents,” said David Frank, Assistant Commissioner of the New York State Education Department.

Frank attended a recent Board of Education meeting in Silver Creek to commend the district for the work it has done through the Seal of Civic Readiness and the Seal of Biliteracy programs. Through the portrait of a graduate and the NY Inspires initiative, the State Education Department is attempting to reconfigure what it means to be a successful student, so that when students graduate, they are better prepared to succeed in society.

“As we’re teaching other districts about how to implement this work, we’re doing that on the lessons learned in Silver Creek. I am so excited about doing that, but I’m also so proud of the work you’re doing right here in western New York,” Frank said.

OBSERVER Photo by Braden Carmen David Frank, Assistant Commissioner of the New York State Education Department, commended Silver Creek for its efforts to represent Native American students through the Seal of Biliteracy and Seal of Civic Readiness programs.

Multiple representatives of the district attended the recent Board of Regents meeting in Syracuse, including Ralston, Michelle Helmer, Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Technology Integration; Amanda Austin, Native American Education Program Coordinator; and Austin’s daughter, Ella Austin, a recent Silver Creek graduate.

As part of her Seal of Civic Readiness project at Silver Creek, Ella Austin crafted four land acknowledgements for the district to be shared at informal meetings, at key events such as graduation, during elementary school announcements, and during middle/high school announcements.

A land acknowledgement is a formal statement that recognizes groups who were forced from their homes in the past. Land acknowledgements honor indigenous history and the ongoing impacts to the communities removed from their lands. The Silver Creek Central School District is located on the ancestral land of the Seneca Nation.

Ella Austin also helped craft a land acknowledgment at the state level and presented it to the Board of Regents, along with a presentation centered around indigenous education, in which she spoke about what she learned at Silver Creek. Ella Austin’s land acknowledgment will now be included at State Board of Regents meetings moving forward.

Ralston said it was “very powerful” to see Ella Austin present the land acknowledgment to the Board of Regents. Ralston and Amanda Austin both spoke to the impact her presentation had on the Board of Regents, as did Board President Matt Bogosian.

“It is just so cool that Ella is now part of every Regents meeting, with a land acknowledgement written by one of our students,” Bogosian said. Speaking to Ella’s mother, Amanda Austin, Bogosian said, “We’re proud. I can’t imagine how you feel.”

The following day, a remembrance walk was held in the school’s gymnasium to educate students about residential boarding schools for indigenous students and the traumatic impact they had on indigenous communities. Students filled the gym, wearing orange shirts provided by the Seneca Nation as part of the “Every Child Matters” campaign to raise awareness about Native American boarding schools. Elders and officials from the Seneca Nation spoke about their experiences to students of all grades throughout the day. Seal of Civic Readiness students organized the event.

“It really connected everybody, but it also brought a level of education that I don’t think a lot of our students had,” Ralston said.

Representatives from the district, including Ralston, visited with Dr. Betty Rosa, Commissioner of the New York State Department of Education, later in the week as well. Following that meeting, Assistant Commissioner David Frank visited the Board of Education meeting to give a presentation to the Board.

Frank said before his presentation began that he only had 10 minutes to speak, but he spent more than 30 minutes addressing the state’s vision for its students and how Silver Creek has reflected that vision throughout the district. First among the topics Frank discussed in his presentation was regionalization, which he credited Silver Creek for already exemplifying throughout its district. He later touched on the portrait of a graduate and the NY Inspires initiatives that were recently presented to the Board of Regents.

“The work that’s happening here at Silver Creek is bringing that to life,” Frank said.

At the recent meeting, Frank said “the real superstar at this table” was Molly Shaw, the district’s first Student Board Member. Shaw is in her second year in the role.

The “powerful” week was capped off by a Homecoming dance over the weekend, following the varsity football team’s first victory of the season, 27-12, over Cattaraugus-Little Valley on Friday night. There was also a successful Homecoming parade, which Shaw was involved in coordinating.

Ralston called the week as a whole “a week to be very proud of all that is happening in the district, and the students and staff that we have here.”