Lake Shore Central School District on Thursday observed Orange Shirt Day.

Orange Shirt Day began 10 years ago as a way to show support and understanding for Indigenous children that were taken away from their homes and placed in residential schools.

In those schools, children were stripped of their cultural identity and faced abuse, which for some schools led to high fatality rates.

One teacher shared his thoughts on the day.

"To bring the idea that Indigenous people are still modern people, and that we're still here, incorporating ourselves into society and we're not remnants of the past,” said Jordan Cooke, Seneca language teacher, Lake Shore CSD. “We're not just a paragraph in the history book. We're actually here, living and conducting ourselves as any other person would."

Around 15% of Lake Shore's students are of Native American heritage.