Hi there! My name is Emily Killebrew! Next year at Western Oregon University, I will have
completed my business major, with a concentration in marketing and minors in
communications studies and English studies. I am exploring career options that may be
humanitarian, marketing and/or writing. This program will help me learn more about myself
and gain more experience in my passions, such as working with photos and sharing the
memories those photos contain. Finding the best photos that have perfect clarity is a value I
keep when posting on social media. After all, they say photos are worth more than a thousand
words.

I used to work with Jared Hibbard-Swanson and Emily Griffith at the Marion and Polk County
Food Share Youth Farm every Friday for the summer after my freshman year of high school. We
transformed a big pile of mulch with pitch forks into a mulch path between the south crop
beds, took care of and harvested the plants that grew on the farm and we made lunch out of
our harvest. Overall, it was fun and rewarding.

One of my main goals for this summer is to verbally communicate in a way that relays the
message intended for another person to receive. As an external thinker, I struggle to think
before I speak, use intentional words and get to the point. I would like for others not to be
offended by me on accident and for me to speak more professionally.

The Oregon State University Extension Service in Marion County is in need of county
awareness. This summer I will join events and projects that the Marion County Extension Office
Outreach Coordinators oversee. I will ask many questions about their work and how they
communicate, present and edit outreach style posts on the OSU Extension Service, Marion
County Facebook page and hopefully create an Instagram account to reach younger audiences
in hopes to increase public awareness overall.

So far, I have begun organizing the Marion County Box photo folder that has photos previously
taken by the Marion County Extension Service Staff. I traveled with Collins Bugingo to the Grass
Seed and Mint Grower Fields in the outskirts of Salem and into Silverton. And I have walked
around the warm, noisy livestock pens and the cool, calm Columbia Building tables at the
Marion County fair (as shown in the photo). Finally, I have begun posting on the Marion
County Facebook Page for the Marion County fair, and soon I will begin posting subjects related
to the outings I have been and will be a part of.

Thank you for taking me aboard. I am looking forward to getting to know the Marion County
staff and being a part of varied events this summer!