Grand Island board taps DECA intern to design unified community calendar

The Grand Island Economic Development Advisory Board assigned a student intern from DECA to research and recommend how to build and sustain a single community calendar that would combine school, town, Chamber and other local events.

The board introduced Sienna Sarkees as the DECA intern who will do the research and produce a set of recommendations. "The document was great. It was really helpful," Sarkees said after reviewing the board’s draft project scope. She told the board she will both prepare written materials and present findings, and that she has a near‑term meeting with her DECA advisor, Mrs. Chamberlain, to break down deadlines and deliverables.

Why it matters: multiple local calendars currently exist across town government, the school district and the Chamber of Commerce; the board said a single, sustainable calendar could make it easier for residents and organizations to find events and reduce duplication of outreach.

Scope and deliverables Sarkees and the board agreed the internship will focus on research and recommendations rather than building a finished, live calendar. The intern’s deliverables will include recommended hosting options, a proposed workflow for adding and maintaining events, a suggested budget, and a sustainability plan for ongoing maintenance. The board asked for recommendations on who should be responsible to upload events and how to ensure data remains current.

Process and schedule Board members asked Sarkees to provide monthly updates to the advisory board so the group can give feedback during the project rather than only at the end. The board discussed aligning the student’s timeline with DECA requirements; Sarkees said she expects to produce presentation material and a written report and that she meets Mrs. Chamberlain next week to set specific milestones. Board members suggested outreach to schools, religious organizations, senior groups and community nonprofits to gather stakeholder input during the research phase.

Organizational coordination and sustainability Board members stressed the importance of making the calendar sustainable: who will host it, how data will be uploaded and who will maintain the calendar when the internship ends. The Chamber of Commerce, school and town websites were named as possible hosts; board members suggested integrating existing pages where feasible and creating a single landing page with a submission form. The board discussed publishing recommendations to the town website and ensuring any submission email addresses are routed to committee chairs or staff for follow‑up.

Next steps Sarkees will meet with her DECA advisor and return with a schedule and initial findings. The board asked that Sarkees present brief slide updates monthly and supply a final written recommendation by the end of her internship window (the board noted the intern’s DECA participation likely runs through November). The board also offered to help with outreach to town, school and Chamber contacts to support stakeholder interviews and data collection.