August « 2021 « OSU Extension Internship Program

The OSU Extension - Lane County table at the fair. — The OSU Extension – Lane County table at the fair.

Hello everyone! Ally Hand here, writing from Lane County. Lane County had its county fair two weeks ago and I had a blast helping out with things behind the scenes. We set up everything on Monday and Tuesday to be ready for the fair opening on Wednesday. It was exciting seeing everything come together. First, we set up the 4-H static exhibit. If you are unfamiliar with 4-H, static exhibits are the projects such as photography, drawing, sewing, baking, jewelry making, flower arrangements, and educational displays. I took some time making the baked goods display look presentable and it was pretty hard to not take a nibble out of all of the delicious-looking entries.

The next task I helped with was during 4-H animal check-in. When the animals arrive at the fairgrounds, they have to pass a vet check in order to get off of their trailer. After passing a vet check, they are weighed and then taken to their pens. It was fun watching the kids get their animals settled in, as I had never seen that side of fair before. I enjoyed seeing the variety of animals that were at the fair this year.

During one of the showmanship shows, I handed out ribbons to the kids which were fun to do as well. 4-H uses the Danish merit system for awarding youth at the fair. At first, it was a bit hard to understand, but I have a much better understanding of it now.

One learning moment that I had while helping with the fair was to listen to all sides of an issue before making a decision. My supervisor, Elizabeth Gangwer, a 4-H program coordinator in Lane County, had to make the final decision, and I was very impressed with how level-headed she was.

I am seeing the mission of OSU Extension being met in several ways. One is by teaching the public about proper animal care and what healthy animals look like. The youth are responsible for all of the animal care at the fair and they do a great job keeping their animals happy and their pens clean. Another way I have seen the mission of Extension being met is by connecting OSU to the general public. We had a large booth set up at the fair as well as a 4-H table and got several new individuals on our email list. It was important to reach out to the public and let them know OSU Extension is there to help with all kinds of topics.

For the last three weeks of my internship, I will be helping out with one youth camp and then teaching two Junior Master Gardener camps. I’ve had a great internship experience so far and am really looking forward to the two camps I will be teaching.

Hi all! I’m Brady Monteith, reaching out from sunny Klamath Falls. I’m on a bit of a different schedule down here at the OSU Extension office in Klamath County, and I’m quickly approaching the end of my time here before I pack up and head down to Arizona. It’s been an eventful 12 weeks, and I’m so grateful for all the learning opportunities I’ve had.

My main project this summer has been Double Up Food Bucks at our local farmer’s market. We worked with the market coordinator and our local vendors to create programs that encourage more people to use their SNAP-Ed benefits for local produce. Each week, we had a different “Featured Food” that we tried to line up with what was in season. At our booth we would have various Extension Food Hero resources such as recipes and informational handouts about our Featured Food. We put together a market tour, which was essentially a short scavenger hunt with some sample questions that encouraged shoppers to explore the market and communicate with local growers. We also collected information and put together profiles on our local vendors, still with the hope that we can help shoppers get to know the people who grow their food.

Another project I’ve been working on is the delivery of the Cooking Matters class, both in-person and virtually. The last three weeks I’ve been helping Paolina Mulleneix, Extension’s Farm to School outreach program coordinator in Klamath County, deliver the Cooking Matters for Families class virtually. We’ve had about five families join in Zoom each week and we all cook a meal together. Just this last week, we taught the Cooking Matters For Teens class in-person out in Chiloquin. On the first day of class only two kids showed up, but the last day we had seven. We spent an hour with the kids each day, talking to them about how to eat healthy and be safe in the kitchen. By the end of each day the kids went home with a delicious meal they had prepared themselves.

This internship has been incredibly insightful and has allowed me to see nearly every aspect of our local food system. Over the last couple weeks, I’ve been meeting with people who play a part in our food system, from growers to policy writers. The experiences I’ve had have been so valuable, and I can’t wait to see how I will be able to apply them in my future studies.

Hi, Alli Studnick here. I am coming up on the two-month mark of my internship in the OSU Extension office in Benton County with Chrissy Lucas, Extension’s groundwater quality education program coordinator in the Willamette Valley. I can say is it has been a whirlwind since I started. We have sent out over a couple thousand postcards, I learned how to do a “mail merge,” planned and prepared for events, and I’ve taught kids and talked a lot about water.

The first week of my internship I was able to work at the Corvallis Farmers Market with the Extension small farms outreach coordinator in Benton County. We passed out N95 masks and talked to farmers about the importance of wildfire safety and respirators – since farming never stops – some workers might have to be out in the smoky conditions taking care of their crops and their evacuation plans if wildfires were to occur. I was moved and saddened by some of the stories we heard about how the smoke caused by the 2020 wildfires affected the Willamette Valley. But hearing how more prepared these farmers were was reassuring.

Leading a water balloon activity at the Lebanon School District Summer School Program.

The mission of OSU Extension is that it hopes to engage the people of Oregon with research-based knowledge and education that strengthen communities and economies, sustain natural resources, and promote healthy families and individuals. I think that this internship goes hand-in-hand with the four themes of Extension: people, places, programs, and partnerships. In the last two months, I have been able to see how the groundwater quality education branch of Extension works with people of all ages. From playing with water balloons and teaching children about the water cycle to adults learning how to care for their septic and what type of toxins might be in their well water that can cause some major health issues. We have planned on attending 10 farmers’ markets up and down the I-5 corridor this summer to do nitrate screenings to help educate the Willamette Valley of potential nitrate in their drinking water. And finally, partnerships. Chrissy has so many different partnerships it sometimes is hard to keep up with!

At the beginning stages of the internship, I was very timid, shy, and not confident when it came to talking to people about wells or septic systems. I wouldn’t say I am a complete expert now or totally confident with what I am saying. But I feel like I have gotten better, and learned what to say, what information or hand-outs to give, or when to say, “Let me give you my supervisor’s number.” Chrissy and I have chatted a lot, and I have asked her about the challenging times she had in this career. I know I can’t be the best right off the bat like I would want to be. But I can surely learn from my mistakes and grow from there. I have learned that an Extension agent’s job isn’t always a walk in the park. It is a lot of emails, meetings, and phone calls. Not to mention all the program planning they have to do. I have learned that this job requires some hard work, is a very fast-paced job, and most days are never boring. But this job is very satisfying and every interaction you have with someone about something important like their health, makes me feel like I am making a difference.

I only have two more weeks left in my internship before I head back to school to begin my master’s program, but my placement area for the program is going to be groundwater quality education. I will be able to keep learning with Chrissy and working with the community well after my time in my Extension summer internship!

Hi, Joseph O’Brien checking in. As I enter my seventh week in this internship, I can only describe my experience as fulfilling. These past few weeks, I have kept busy by working at summer camps and school programs – ranging from one day to four days (not overnight) – with Extension’s Open Campus Program. Additionally, I have been working with Umatilla County’s 4-H Program to prepare for the upcoming county fair in Hermiston.

The first summer school program I had the opportunity to work with was in Umatilla at McNary Heights Elementary School, for youth who were interested and invited by their teachers to the STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) program held during the summer. My supervisor, Anna Browne, and I were invited to present a curriculum regarding monarch butterflies. Earlier in the year, Umatilla County was selected for a grant provided by Corteva to educate youth (K-12) in the surrounding communities about the world’s biggest natural phenomenon: the migration of monarchs. At McNary, I talked about the butterfly’s life cycle, its migration from various parts of the United States and Canada to California and Mexico for the winter, the predators that put the butterflies in danger, and the habitats required for reproduction and preservation of these majestic insects.

We also talked about the importance of pollinators and how big of a contribution they make to the food we eat and items we use daily. After learning and discussing this information throughout the days with the youth, we played different games. For example, one involved a milkweed plant, a caterpillar magnet, and other magnets representing predators and food. The object of the game was to pick up the food magnets off the milkweed five times with the caterpillar magnet without picking up the predator magnets that would kill the caterpillar. After completing various trials and evaluating how many larvae got the five food magnets, it was determined that about 1% of eggs live to become a butterfly. Shocking, right?

Another summer day camp was called, “Nuts, Bolts, and Thingamajigs: Manufacturing Camp” (NBT Camp). During this camp, youth received presentations from Boardman Foods, Amazon Web Services, Blue Mountain Community College and Oregon State University faculty members, Umatilla Electric Cooperative, and the Port of Morrow. Additionally, the kids had the opportunity to design and create their own wooden speaker, work together during team-building activities each day, and give a presentation about their future careers/goals. Not only did the kids learn about all the amazing trades and work training positions located here in the Port of Morrow but I learned more about the history of the port.

I also learned how each manufacturing company/business (Lamb Weston, Oregon Potato Company, etc.) in the town of Boardman cooperates to create thousands of jobs, opportunities, and resources for those seeking them. One highlight from this weeklong camp was our trip to the SAGE Center located in Boardman. This location was selected for the new Amazon Web Services “Think Big Space” and will promote classes and opportunities surrounding STEAM for K-6 students. I was honored to sign the construction wall along with the kids with our “big ideas.”

In the next few weeks, I will be mainly working with the 4-H program to prepare for the Umatilla and Morrow County Fair. Most individuals have a hard time working in a fast-paced environment with multiple tasks. Sometimes, people can’t handle these high-stress situations – not me though. As I am going to enter my junior year of nursing school this fall, I know these feelings all too well. I look forward to the challenges and tasks that are bestowed upon me as we enter the fair madness! All in all, I feel very privileged to have these opportunities here in Umatilla and Morrow counties. With only three to four weeks remaining, I am determined to meet more people, collaborate with more programs/organizations, and learn/obtain new knowledge. I would love to give a special thanks to those who have made my internship more memorable so far: my supervisor Anna Browne, Kim Rill, who works for the SAGE Center and helped with NBT Camp; America Pacheco an intern for the Port of Morrow and helped with NBT Camp, Kalie Davis, director of workforce development for the Port of Morrow and camp director for NBT, Shauna Newman, who works with the 4-H program here in Umatilla County, and so many others.

Stay safe and well!

OSU Extension Internship Program

Monthly Archives: August 2021

Getting hungry while setting up the 4-H baked goods display at the fair

Learning the local food system in Klamath County

Tapping into Extension’s mission to teach about groundwater quality

Summer camps, school programs, county fair – and butterflies

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