March 16, 2023 | salamancapress.com
Top photo: L to R: Alleyana Abrams, SHS Teacher Brooke Canale, and Makenzie Crouse.
SALAMANCA — Four Salamanca High School students recently spent a weekend in Washington, D.C., presenting at the National Association of Federally Impacted Schools Conference on the theme of Uniting for Education & Innovation.
In their presentation, freshmen Makenzie Crouse (Seneca, Allegany Territory) and juniors Alleyana Abrams (Seneca, Allegany Territory) and Matthew and Mitchel Schnaufer discussed how they and the staff have redesigned instructional practices to engage students in a different way of thinking. So far, they have seen students more engaged in learning and academic successes, something the students demonstrated in their presentation.
At the March 14th Salamanca Board of Education meeting, Karen Magara, assistant superintendent for operations and finance, said all four students did a fantastic job presenting.
Crouse and Abrams did great, Magara said. They did a panel with three other students in a room with 50-75 people in the room talking about how teachers can motive and engage their students.
“Everybody was coming up, telling us the kids are fantastic, that this is a great program, it was really cool,” she said.
NAFIS is the leading association advocating for Impact Aid, which replaces revenue lost due to the presence of nontaxable federal property in a community, such as military installations, Indian lands, federal low-income housing and national parks.
Since most public schools are funded in large part by local property taxes, Impact Aid ensures districts containing federal property — called federally impacted school districts — have the resources they need to provide a quality education to the students they serve.
Tiffany Giannicchi, assistant superintendent for academic services, agreed with Magara, saying the kids were inspiring, engaging and had a sense of humor. Some of the groups that presented after Salamanca’s students commented on how well they did and how great the programs in the district sound, even receiving a standing ovation!
“What I was most impressed with is they were with kids they didn’t know, and they naturally integrated with other kids and met new people and were taking pictures together,” Giannicchi said. “It was like they were friends for 10 years and giggling, and it was really nice to see.”
Giannicchi recognized teachers Brooke Canale and Cheryl Johnson for their leadership and guidance with the students. She said they could successfully mentor any student in the district and were amazing with Abrams, Crouse and the Schanufers.
Dr. Mark Beehler, district superintendent, echoed the praise, saying the students made the administrators feel like rock stars at the conference. He said people from across the country came up to them afterward asking for contact information and wanting to know more.
“The professional lobbyist from NAFIS said we have to get the kids on (Capitol Hill), we need to get a video, we need to start promoting what’s happening in Salamanca to the benefit of all the NAFIS schools,” he said. “It was another point to really be proud of Warrior Nation this past weekend.”
On March 15th, students spent another day on Capitol Hill attending presentations and participating in panel discussions on Fostering Student Engagement in Indian Lands School Districts.
Beehler and Mrs. Giannicchi met with Congressman (Nicholas) Langworthy’s office as well. He said, “Five of these school districts are in his congressional region, so he’s going to be important to have on our side.”
