Hello! My name is Sienna Mahaffy, and I am so excited to be interning for the Oregon State University Extension office in Coos County this summer. I recently completed my freshman year at Oklahoma State University, where I am majoring in animal science with minors in agriculture business and equine enterprise management. It is great to be back home on the Oregon coast after an incredible, but long, year in Oklahoma. After spending nine years in 4-H showing livestock, I am looking forward to continuing to be involved through this internship.  

Growing up as a fifth-generation dairy farmer and a nine year 4-H member made agriculture incredibly important to me, and I hope to share it with others this summer. In the three weeks since I have started working, my focus has been on 4-H. I have set up small animal judging contests, assisted with small animal weigh-ins, and helped organize and prepare for the county fair, which is a large undertaking. As I continue in the internship, I am looking forward to working with the other Extension agents and assisting them with their projects. In the coming weeks I will help with making garden beds for local youth groups, running nutrition classes with SNAP-Ed, and conducting research in cranberry bogs. 

This summer I am looking forward to learning how the county fair is made possible. I have already helped with some small projects in the office to prepare, but things are about to get busier. I will learn how the shows are organized, and the schedules made. I am excited to work with the 4-H kids, families, and volunteers to make fair a success! Some project ideas that I have been considering are all related to the county fair. I could assist with the livestock judging contest, a huge undertaking to run on one’s own, but I could help make things easier for my supervisor. Another possible project is the Milk Drinking Contest, a fun event for 4-H members and the community. Following the years we didn’t have fair during COVID the contest has struggled restarting, but I would love to bring the Coos County Fair tradition back to its former glory!