Silver Creek, Lake Shore, and Gowanda Highschools Awarded ‘Decade of Languages’ Grant
By Norah Stevens, Reporter
The Tri-Districts, Silver Creek, Lake Shore and Gowanda have been awarded “The Decade of World Languages” grant funded by New York State. Mary Golden, the new Assistant Director of Lifelong Learning at the Cattaraugus Education Department, took the iniative to make her dream a reality.
The grant is an Indigenous Language Program which has a focus on supporting language preservation, instruction, and cultural studies. Mary took the initiative to lead this grant work because she loves providing opportunities for our youth to learn with their hands and interact with our knowledgable community members.
Mary has been able to give opportunities to students in grades Kindergarten through High School. She currently runs “Seneca Language through the Arts”. Mary is the coordinator and schedules five events throughout the three districts and attempts to make at least one of the events a collaboration where all three school districts can intermingle.
She reaches out to local indigenous artists who are proficient in a traditional skill or craft. Due to issues with transportation and afterschool sports the field trips/events are often “in house” and take place during the school day explains Golden. This year’s series of events started with Bernadette Scott teaching elementary age kids how to make cornhusk flowers. The second event was a collaboration with the high school kids and Gakwi:yo:h Farms. During this visit the kids learned step by step how to process a deer from beginning to end. The student worked with staff at the farm to get hands-on experience. They then harvested the deer meat which provided the students with a lunch of venison meatloaf and meatballs.
For the remainder of the school year students will be learning the following from each instructor. Jordan Cooke will be presenting at the neighboring middle schools to teach students how to make cornhusk dolls and clothing for cornhusk as toys for playing instead of for show where they are on a platform. Lorinda John will be doing a bison meat cooking class with high school students . She will teach students how to implement bison meat into recipes. Kerriann Spruce will be giving an opportunity to middle school age students how to social dance and become confident with it in an encouraging space.
Each year Mary has tried to incorporate at least one cooking element, along with skills and crafts. In the past, students have learned how to do quill work, beading, and make wild onion soup just to name a few. Nya:wëh Mary for taking the initiative to make sure our youth have the opportunity to carry on traditions and keep the culture alive.
