Student GICSD school board members reflect on their experiences

Story and photo by Senior Contributing Writer Alice Gerard

In September 2025, the Grand Island Central Board of Education welcomed its first two students as ex officio school board members. Ex officio members participate in everything that the school board does, except for voting and sitting in on executive sessions.

As their time on the school board drew to a close, these two members, Sienna Sarkees and Charlotte Tower, reflected on their year as part of the school district’s governing body. Both have since graduated. Sienna is heading to Niagara University for a double major in sports management and Spanish. Charlotte is planning to attend St. Bonaventure University to major in English and secondary education. A scholar-athlete, Charlotte will also be part of the St. Bonaventure University track and cross-country teams. St. Bonaventure is an NCAA Division I school and is part of the Atlantic 10 Conference.

Niagara Frontier Publications: Tell me how you decided to become one of the first two student representatives on the school board. What was the process involved with that?

Sienna: It kind of sounded like something that would align with all my interests, since I’m already so involved. We had to apply. Then we had an interview panel with different teachers and club advisers in our school.

Charlotte: I’ve always been involved in student council and class office, and I saw this as another opportunity to get even more involved. It was an opportunity to make an even greater impact on our school.

NFP: What has the experience been like for you?

Sienna: I think it’s really cool because, even though we’re not voting members, we get to sit in on everything. We get to know everything that’s happening when other people don’t. They have to look online. We get that first experience to hear everything. I didn’t understand how that stuff worked before, like the budget. I’m pretty well versed on the budget now. It’s kind of cool to see the behind-the-scenes stuff of what goes on in school. You get to be more appreciative of it, too.

I like having that insider sense of, the feeling, knowing what goes on behind the scenes that everyone else doesn’t get to see every day.

Charlotte: I really like that it gave us an inside view into the behind-the-scenes work of a school district. I think I had a decent understanding of how a school works. I didn’t understand the budget or more of the smaller details. I also liked having opportunities to speak up and be a voice on a greater platform.

NFP: Let’s talk about the budget. What’s your perspective on that process, having observed it firsthand?

Sienna: I feel like, the second time, the board did a much better job of pushing out the information of the change; so, I feel that’s why more people came out and voted yes. I think it’s really hard getting the community on board with it.

Charlotte: I think that communication could be better. I think that the board could do more in reaching out to the public via social media and stuff. I also think the public needs to get a greater understanding of what the budget is for.

NFP: I know you’re in student government. Tell me more about that.

Sienna: I’ve always been in class office. For the past three years, I’ve been class president. I’ve gotten to oversee everything we do, everything we plan. I’m also in student council, so I’ve gotten to plan school events.

Charlotte: For student council, I’m president, and for class office, I am our social media.

NFP: What would you tell students who are thinking about doing what you did?

Sienna: I would say definitely apply because I don’t think there are any negatives to it. You get to learn a lot and I think it’s beneficial, no matter what you’re planning to do in college. It’s nice to have that administrative background.

Charlotte: I think they should definitely apply. I think that, no matter what they are planning on going into in their future, they’re going to gain skills and insights into different positions and the way leadership works. They’re going to learn communication skills. It will benefit anybody who applies.

NFP: How do you hope to carry on the skills you learned as a board member in the future?

Charlotte: Well, I am going into education. Although I want to be a special education teacher first, I definitely see an administrative role in education in my future. My goal would be to either be a principal or maybe a superintendent one day.

NFP: Sienna, the leadership skills that you’ve learned as a board member. How do you see that in your future?

Sienna: Well, I want to go into sports management, so definitely that more managerial side and being in charge, I guess, and that aspect in sports.

Charlotte: I guess that I’m really grateful that I was able to hold the role as one of the student representatives on the board. It was a great opportunity, and I really enjoyed it.

NFP: You two were the first. What did it mean to you to be the first?

Charlotte: I think it was an even bigger deal because they chose us for the first ones, that they trusted us for a position that they were still kind of figuring out.

NFP: Is there anyone you want to thank or anything at all that you’d like to say?

Charlotte: I would like to thank the board for letting us work with them and for the committee that chose us to be student representatives.

NFP: And, Sienna, is there anything that you’d like to say that I did not ask?

Sienna: Again, what Charlotte said. I’m really grateful to have done this. I don’t know if I had any expectations going into this, but I’m really glad that I did it. I definitely got a lot out of it.

NFP: Is there anybody you’d like to thank?

Sienna: Definitely the board, but Mama (Jude) Kuehne and Dr. Graham specifically. They’ve been great through this whole process.