First-graders from Silver Creek Elementary School enjoyed an educational field trip to the Chautauqua Safety Village on June 20, 2023. Black Knights from the classrooms of Mrs. Feeley, Mrs. Janca, Mrs. Mahaney, and Mrs. Pieniazek explored fire and road safety.
While there, they learned what to do if a fire breaks out in their house. They practiced escaping from a window using a fire ladder along with stop, drop, cover and roll exercises. They also learned what various road signs mean including: stop, one way, railroad crossing, cross walk, yield and what the colors of a traffic light mean. The students then applied what they learned in the mini village while driving battery operated cars.
They ended the day with an outdoor lunch under the pavilion at the village ball park.
**COURTESY POST**
Congratulations to the Class of 2023 at Silver Creek High! Thank you to everyone who helped celebrate our seniors at the Friday, June 23, 2023, commencement. 🎓👏🖤💛
Here is a peek at some of the graduates from before and during the ceremony with more to come.
Outgoing Superintendent Todd Crandall was honored during his final Board of Education meeting at Silver Creek Central School District on Thursday, June 22, 2023, as he retires after eight years of service. A slideshow featuring numerous highlights from his time as a Black Knight as well as family snapshots was shown and words of appreciation were offered.
Since joining us in 2016, Mr. Crandall has served the Silver Creek district full of Black Knight Pride. He has left an impact on the students and community of Silver Creek.
Current Board President Martha Howard and past-presidents Greg Cole and Stephen Boothe spoke to some of Mr. Crandall's accomplishments, from recalling the day he was interviewed and hired, to the successful completion of the 2018 Capital Project, and navigating the COVID-19 pandemic. The Board presented Mr. Crandall with a gift.
Trudy Jackson, on behalf of the Seneca Nation of Indians Education Department, presented Mr. Crandall with a hand-made basket as a token of appreciation for the partnership over the years. The Administrative Team and Mr. Crandall’s wife and family were also among those in attendance. The Catering Company of Fredonia, NY, catered appetizers and desserts for the reception that followed.
Please join our Black Knight family in thanking Mr. Crandall for his dedication to our district and congratulating him as he embarks on the next chapter of his life following retirement.
𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗬𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗟𝗜𝗞𝗘 𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗢𝗘𝗦
Students, staff, and parents from Silver Creek and Forestville central school districts spent Saturday, June 17, 2023, volunteering at the Special Olympics of New York’s sixth annual Buffalo Bowl fundraiser.
Buffalo Bowl is a flag football event where schools, law enforcement, local businesses, and other organizations form teams to raise money to play on the Buffalo Bills Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park. All funds raised go to the Special Olympics.
Silver Creek CSD’s Youth Advisory Committee (YAC) sponsored the group by providing shirts for everyone to wear. Junior Julie Decker designed the shirt for the volunteers from Silver Creek/Forestville. A huge thank you to Liz Van Cheri of Bess-Tees Custom Creations for making the shirts.
Buffalo Bowl volunteers include: Forestville teacher Mrs. Brenda Kerstetter and Forestville student Allie Kerstetter; Silver Creek staff members Mrs. Janet Decker, Ms. Ellie Decker, Mrs. Melissa Matney, Mrs. Bonnie Pilski, Ms. Alley Rocque, and Mrs. Shumaker; SCCS parent Liz Van Cheri; and SCCS students Troy Cooper, Julie Decker, Ann Matney, Calvin Matney, Liam Matney, Jonathan Pilski, Eva Tytka, Bella Shumaker, Colin Shumaker, Brianna Spinuzza, Stephanie Van Cheri, and Emily Yerke.
Silver Creek Central School District has a few 𝗜𝗡𝗦𝗧𝗥𝗨𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗔𝗟 𝗘𝗠𝗣𝗟𝗢𝗬𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧 𝗢𝗣𝗣𝗢𝗥𝗧𝗨𝗡𝗜𝗧𝗜𝗘𝗦 for the 2023-2024 academic year an 𝗘𝗟𝗘𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗔𝗥𝗬 𝗧𝗘𝗔𝗖𝗛𝗘𝗥, 𝗮 𝗦𝗢𝗖𝗜𝗔𝗟 𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗞𝗘𝗥 and 𝘁𝘄𝗼 (𝟮) 𝗧𝗘𝗔𝗖𝗛𝗘𝗥 𝗔𝗜𝗗𝗘𝗦. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗝𝗨𝗟𝗬 𝟳, 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟯. Read more about these positions via the VACANCIES page of this website: https://www.silvercreekschools.org/page/vacancies
Mrs Weiss and Mrs Williams' third grade classes participated in a STEAM straw rocket activity! The farthest rocket went 153 inches!
COMMENCEMENT COUNTDOWN: 1 DAY
Be sure to check out the #Classof2023 graduation tabs in the June 22, 2023, editions of The Dunkirk Observer and The Post-Journal! 📰
Observer: https://www.observertoday.com
PJ: https://www.post-journal.com
Third-graders from Silver Creek Elementary School went on a field trip to Reinstein Woods Nature Preserve in Depew on June 15, 2023, where they enjoyed a “World of the Pond” guided lesson and hike. 🚌 🌏💧
Students from the classrooms of Estee, Schuster, Mohan, Weiss, and Williams attended along with chaperones Woods, Restivo, Burke, Kolasa, and O’Connor. 🏫
This educational experience was funded via
the NYS Parks Connect Kids grant. Thank you to the staff at Reinstein Woods for being so welcoming to our Black Knights. 🫶
RIT 2023 High School Junior Awards:
The following were selected in recognition of their leadership, service and achievements:
(L to R)
Katelyn Gard- Art and Design Award
Jorge Hasbun- Science and Math Award
Rachel Beadle- Computing Award
Kendal Brunn- Business and Leadership Award
Stephanie VanCheri- Humanities and Social Sciences Award
Emily Bowers- Women in STEM Award
The awardees will receive a waived application fee and a $19,000 annual award if they are admitted to RIT.
A group of students from Silver Creek Central School District enjoyed a field trip to The Buffalo Zoo on Monday, June 5, 2023. 🚌
The temperature made for a great day to see many of the animals active within their enclosures. Some of the favorites for Mrs. Heller’s class were the gorillas during feeding time and the seals doing flips. Mrs. Voigt’s class enjoyed seeing some of their favorite animals up close. 🦍 🦭 👀
Black Knights from the classrooms of Mrs. Heller, Mrs. Buczkowski, Mrs. Fennell, Mrs. Voigt, and Mrs. Tanski attended. 💛🖤💛🖤
Black Knights in Ms. Kristin McChesney’s Health & Wellness classes enjoyed the recent beautiful weather the week of June 12, 2023, for some outdoor "team-building" games.
Students in Pre-Kindergarten through fifth grade engaged in playful collaborative activities as the 2022-2023 academic year comes to an end.
Second-graders from Mrs. Postle, Miss Meyerhofer, Miss Conner, Miss Kline and Mrs. Bunge's classes at Silver Creek Elementary took a field trip to Evangola State Park on June 6, 2023. 🚌 🌲
These Black Knights enjoyed participating in four educational centers including bird watching, building sand castles, playing on new playgrounds and doing a marsh study. It was awesome learning about local ecosystems and learning the names of local bodies of water. 🦅🏖️🤸💧
Thank you to the guides from the park for teaching everyone so much. We are looking forward to return visits! ☺️ 🫶🖤💛
Sophomore Mattison Larson organized a charity Four Square tournament May 23, 2023, for Silver Creek High students and teachers to compete. 💪
To promote the event, Mattison made flyers and posted them around campus. 🪧 🎊 She worked to get a total of 12 teams of one teacher and 3 students per team organized. 🏫 During the tourney, she hosted a bake sale with cupcakes, cookies and Rice Krispie treats. 🧁🍪 Mattison raised $151 via the event and donated it to the Silver Creek Food Pantry. 💰
The winner of the tournament was Mr. Sadler’s team with a total of 34 points. 🏆
Kudos to Mattison on learning a lifelong lesson on the importance of giving back to the community! 🙌🫶
SERVICE, SAND & SWAG: Dozens of members of the Class of 2023 at Silver Creek fanned out in the community to lend a hand on the annual Senior Day of Service. 🚌 💪
The 12th-graders gathered together Monday, June 5, 2023, to collaborate for a greater good. The students volunteered at various places around the community picking up trash and sticks at St. Columban’s on the Lake, Borrello Beach, Sunset Bay Beach and on the Seneca Nation territory. 🤝
Afterward, the students went to Sunset Bay Beach to have the annual beach bash where they enjoyed sun, sand, games, prizes and food. 🏖️ 🏐 🪣 🌊 🌭 🥤 🎉
Chaperones for the event were class advisors Elizabeth Guzzetta, Bridget Hojnacki, Kristen Foley, Carolyn Laurenzi, Mary Williams, and Josh Sadler. 🧑🏫
Thank you to the Silver Creek Parent Teacher Student Association for the prize donations. ☺️
SHE’S A BLACK KNIGHT WHO BETTERS THE LIVES OF OTHERS: Silver Creek High sophomore Karissa Buchanan is one of only two top students from Chautauqua County to receive the inaugural Anne Frank Humanitarian award sponsored by the Holocaust & Social Justice program with the Hebrew Congregation of Chautauqua. 🤩
Karissa, who was nominated by social studies teacher Mrs. Jessica Kardashian, will be honored in August as part of the Shirley Lazarus speakers series at the Chautauqua Institution. 👏
The Anne Frank Humanitarian Award is open to any student in the county who exemplifies a willingness to help others. 🫶
“In my eyes, it represents someone who, long after most of us are gone, will leave the world a better place than they found it and devotes time and effort to give back to others,” says Kardashian. “Karissa she is one of the most kind, caring, compassionate and passionate students I have ever met.”
Karissa is one of the Class of 2025’s most active volunteers. She is president of History and Culture club, Knights Against Cancer, Earth Club, captain of our Quiz Bowl team, one of the curators of the Silver Creek Veteran’s Wall. 🌏 🇺🇸
“She cares about others in a way that is very rare and genuine. Karissa wants others to live a better life and does everything that she can to work to make that happen,” says Kardashian, who advises and frequently volunteers alongside the 10th-grader.
In addition, Karissa served as emcee at the Bald for Bucks event this spring, taking extra care to meet with the organizers, prepare and bring an unmatched energy to an event that is both delicate and fulfilling. 🎤
“The influence Karissa has among her peers, among the people she’s volunteering with, and that she has on her teachers and the community is admirable,” says Kardashian. “Karissa was the very first person that came to mind the moment I saw the nomination information.”
Please join us in congratulating Karissa. 🙌🖤💛
Finishing the school year, Mr. Cerne's Applied Technology class partnered with Mr. Tomaszewski to create bird boxes for Eastern Blue Birds. Years ago, there was a blue bird trail on the Silver Creek campus but many of the boxes have been broken or taken down over the years. Mr. T gave a presentation to Mr. Cerne's class on his desire to rebuild this trail and the two teachers came up with a set of guidelines for the students, taking into consideration how to clean the houses, how to protect the birds from predators, and how to properly mount them around the campus, while allowing for student creativity. The students then created CAD drawings of their projects and went to work constructing their houses, utilizing CNC engraving and 3D modeling in the process. The completed projects will sound be found around the SCCS campus. 🐦
Nine outstanding students of Silver Creek High were feted for attaining the NYS Seal of Civic Readiness during the 2022-2023 academic year. 🏅👏
This special designation signifies they demonstrated civic knowledge, skills and actions, mindsets, and experiences. It acknowledges student achievement in Social Studies and English courses as well as civic engagement including community service, work-based experiences, becoming an advocate for policy change, and coordinating service projects to better the community and world. 🌏🫶
These top Black Knights gathered with staff and parents/guardians and loved ones for a celebratory breakfast Thursday, June 8, 2023, in the cafeteria. They were presented with honor cords to wear on graduation night. 🎓
Congratulations to: Payton Brennan, Emma Forthman, Grace Mullen, Isabella Kmitch, Amber Lockwood, Dylan Miller, Samantha Rankin, Harmony Sinders, and Eva Tytka. 💛🖤
Third-graders from Silver Creek Elementary School enjoyed an excursion to Evangola State Park in Brant and Sunset Grill in Irving on June 7, 2023. 🚌 🏖️🍦
While at the park, students enjoyed a sandcastle contest and playing on the playground. Afterward, they had lunch and an ice cream treat. Thank you to Sunset Grill for hosting our Black Knights! ☺️ 🖤💛
📸 Students from the classrooms of Ms. Weiss, Ms. Williams, Ms. Mohan participated. (Due to air quality concerns, the Estee/Schuster field trip is rescheduled for June 20, 2023.)
𝗡𝗢𝗧 𝗝𝗨𝗦𝗧 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗞𝗜𝗖𝗞𝗦: Silver Creek Central School District hosted its 2nd annual charity kickball tournament Thursday, June 1, 2023, with 40 students and 15 staff volunteering their time for some healthy competition all for the sake of donating back to the Silver Creek Food Pantry.
The four student teams made valiant effort but, in the end, The Blue Sox took their medals home. A huge thank-you to all of the student and staff participants, our referees and to Mr. Jackson for volunteering his time to deejay the event!
Teacher Jessica Kardashian dropped off more than 150 canned goods plus a monetary donation Monday, June 5, 2023. Our Black Knights are grateful they were able to give back while having an awesome time together.
