Salamanca City Central School District is proud to present the Seneca Intermediate School Wampum Belt. There were many hands involved in making this a success. Social Emotional Coach Corrine Quin first had the idea after attending Dr. Joe Stahlman’s professional development of Seneca IV and after meetings to brainstorm ways to incorporate the Seneca culture and values into Social Emotional learning.
Corinne and Joe discussed SCCSD Seneca Language Department’s 13 Characteristics of a Human Being, the Seneca Creation Story, and the living history of the territory. From this stemmed the idea for Corinne to work with students on creating a social contract in their class when Joe suggested having the students create Wampum belts.
The belt is a mutual agreement among different groups. Dr. Stahlman and the Native American Curriculum Team enlisted the help of a now retired Professor Rich Hammel, who is also an archaeologist and paleontologist. Rich resides in the Rochester area and is affiliated with Ganondagan State Historic Site as long-time docent and friend of the site. Rich is well known for his expertise not only in weaving Wampum belts, but also making the beads. Additionally, Rich has knowledge of the various belts and associated agreements or treaties and works to keep the tradition alive. He even has the name Wampum Bearer.
Read more online: https://www.salamancany.org/article/835383
