Community News

A.C.E. Mentoring Program

Salamanca School District

Submitted by Leeora White, Salamanca’s A.C.E. Mentoring Program Consultant

The Salamanca School District is developing a mentoring program focused on young native boys to engage, promote, and strengthen our community’s Indigenous culture. Building relationships with students through mentoring is the primary focus of Salamanca’s A.C.E. Mentoring program. Salamanca School District launched this initiative last year with funds provided by New York State’s Department of Education’s My Brother’s Keeper Native American Program grant.

According to New York State, the goal of the grant is to concentrate on “building safe and inclusive communities for boys and young men of color and ensuring that all young people can reach their full potential.”

The formation of the program and the acronym A.C.E. was heavily influenced by Donald “Flip” White, noting it stands for; “A means you are an asset to the community, C indicates your contribution to the community, and E is how we seek to exemplify excellence.”

“Taking time as an A.C.E. mentor to a young Indigenous person is one of the most rewarding activities you can do,” said Donald White while soliciting an open invitation for anyone who is interested in positively influencing students should get involved.

Karina Lingenfelter, Salamanca’s A.C.E. Mentoring program coordinator, outlines how students are connecting with members of the community on a weekly basis along with attending various Indigenous centered group mentoring events.

“Indigenous culture is at the core of the program,” Lingenfelter notes, “and this allows us to encourage, teach, and inspire young Indigenous boys to relate and connect to our Seneca heritage.”

“When we center cultural knowledge, we are telling an amazing story to our youth about the high value we place on Indigenous thought, traditions, and people,” Leeora White, Salamanca’s A.C.E. Mentoring program consultant, said in a statement.

Leeora White continued, “our stories define who we are, and we can change the narrative of these young boys’ lives by eliminating the opportunity gaps they may face and by offering them traditional perspective to assist them in achieving their full potential.”

The goal for this program is to provide students who are the mentees the opportunity to be mentored by members of the community to enhance communication skills and build admirable behaviors. Providing this opportunity to students and community members strengthens and heals the community.

This mentoring culture gives the students an opportunity to connect with community members they otherwise may have never met and learn traditional skills that revitalizes and strengthens Seneca teachings. “It allows our youth to learn from a variety of community members that are eager to share their life experiences to positively influence good decision making and encourage them to reach their full potential”, adds renowned artist, Carson Waterman.

The A.C.E Mentoring Program is continuing to look forward to having a lot of fun learning traditional and modern practices and attending activities within the community. “We started with individual mentoring but found group mentoring was beneficial and gave the students a chance to meet and engage in cultural activities together making it very enjoyable to build relationships,” Lingenfelter voiced.

One-on-one mentoring is still beneficial for mentee and mentor to strengthen those relationships and communication skills by meeting once a week. It provides a safe space and opportunity for our youth to learn from their A.C.E. mentor and create a lasting relationship built on trust.

Upcoming group activities include:

  • Singing on the Big Drum with the Old Bridge Singers to learn from experienced Pow-Wow singers.
  • Strong young singers will be teaching the students the stories behind Social Dance Songs and giving them the encouragement to sing and dance.
  • Weekly board game night every Friday evening to use critical thinking skills to earn the champion belt.
  • Creating native fashion as they learn how to assemble a ribbon shirt.
  • Beading class and they’ll learn the art of beadwork.
  • Leather tooling class where they will be tooling, braiding, and dying leather to create a valet tray or medallion.
  • Classes to cook Indigenous foods.
  • Getting outdoors to do hikes/running/fishing at the Allegany State Park

The A.C.E. Mentor Program is continuing to network to connect with local community Indigenous artists to encourage the mentees to learn traditional and contemporary Indigenous arts. There is healing through art that needs to be explored and expanded in our community.

The A.C.E. Mentoring Coordinators, Karina and Leeora have a vision to expand the program to create equal opportunities to encourage mentoring with both male and female students.

Leeora White stated, “It is truly an incredible experience to watch the young men be authentically themselves and build relationships that create passions that have the potential of changing the trajectory of their life experiences and allows them to mirror a mentor mentality on the younger students they influence”.

Karina added, “The goal is for mentees to be confident to come back as mentors as they manifest positive behaviors and relationships that cultivate a mentor culture that is overall rewarding for the community”.

“Leading this mentoring opportunity with the foundation of our ancestral teachings is what will strengthen and heal our ögweoweh community”, Donald “Flip” White stated.

If you are interested in getting involved or want to get your child involved in creating culture centered experiences within our community, please reach out to Karina Lingenfelter or Leeora White.

For more information and details about the A.C.E. Mentoring Program:

Contact Karina Lingenfelter or Leeora White at 716-801-2525, klingenfelter@salamancany.org, or lwhite@salamancany.org.