Natchez — The Natchez Chamber of Commerce Education committee is looking forward to a big year in 2009.

The group already has two projects in the works that they hope will create unity among the local schools. The committee is working toward creating a comprehensive school calendar that would list activities from all participating schools in one place.

Busby said the calendar is one way to have open communication between the area schools.

“It will show all these bodies that no matter how different or similar we are, we can share information,” Busby said. “It is all for the betterment of our schools and our community.”

The calendar would work the same way a regular school calendar does with school sponsored programs and details listed by date, but it would not be limited to a particular school or school district.

Busby said the calendar would be open to both private schools and public schools in Adams County. And hopes to have schools in Concordia Parish participate as well.

“We are a small community,” Busby said. “I think the closer we can get our calendars the better it is for everyone.”

Busby said the committee is hoping to not only compile a complete calendar, but also coordinate vacation times between the schools. She said having school breaks, such as spring break, at similar times would be a benefit to the community and to parents, noting that finding childcare during school breaks is a challenge for some parents.

“We aren’t expecting to get everything aligned exactly. We know they are going to vary,” Busby said. “But what we can accomplish is being mindful when (schools) are planning things.”

Having a calendar available will also give schools and teachers more opportunities to attend educational events happening at other schools. Knowledge of such events would provide for a well-rounded academic experience, Busby said.

“If Natchez High School is having a really good Veterans Day program, that would be on the calendar,” Busby said. “And other schools could make plans to attend that program.”

Busby, who is also the vice president at the Natchez Campus of Co-Lin Community College said that while there are ways to get copies of school calendars, having all of them in one place would make it more accessible and easier to use.

“At Co-Lin, one thing we struggle with is pulling all the school calendars to plan our Spring Fling,” she said. “We try to plan it at a time that is easy for schools to bring their seniors, and having the calendar in one place would improve that.”

So far, there is no kick-off date for the calendar but Busby is hoping to have one in place before the beginning of next school year. The plan is for the calendar to be available electronically on someone’s Web site, but no site has been chosen yet.

The second project, the education committee is working on currently is the reimplementation of a junior achievement program in area schools. In the past, Natchez has had a junior achievement program, but one hasn’t been in existence in several years.

Junior achievement programs focus on teaching life skills to school-children as a way of preparing them for daily life after graduation.

The achievement program is for children in kindergarten through 12th grade, but focuses mainly on fourth through sixth graders.

Junior achievement is non-profit partnership between local businesses and the school systems that is staffed by volunteers from the participating businesses.

Busby said the committee was approached by Tom Myers from Dinasteel about starting the program.

“You hear all the time that employers can’t get folks that want to work,” Busby said. “What the program is designed to do is give (students) a lifestyle education in their pursuits after school and on into the workforce.”

The program is about a month long and volunteers from local business are required to go into classrooms once a week and present a program on different topics.

“I might go in and talk about the importance of honesty and professional dress in the workplace,” Busby said. “While someone else might talk about dependability.

“We see it as a way to prepare them to be successful in life in general.”

The committee just began talking about the project in November, but hope to have something in place by the beginning of the 2009-2010 school year.

“It has been here before and others believe it was very successful,” Busby said. “Right now, though, we are in the very early stages of planning.”