Hood River County « OSU Extension Internship Program

Holis! My name is Jazmin Contreras, and my time as the intern for the Oregon State University Extension Service in Hood River is coming to an end. This past summer has been incredible, from spending time with the amazing Extension staff, to getting to know community partners and going to Mexico again after 5 years. This summer has been beyond memorable.

A collection of images from Jazmin's internship — A collection of images from Jazmin’s internship

Since my last blog, I continued assisting with summer camp programming which was a lot of fun. On one occasion, our smoothie bike refused to smoothie (blend) and rather than be able to teach our campers the perks of a healthy smoothie, we taught them a valuable lesson in perseverance. I was very determined to get the smoothie bike to work and three calls to my supervisor and lots of pumping later, we were finally blending.

Another major component was my continued tabling. I tabled El Mercado del Valle, a back-to-school resource fair and the Hood River Latino Festival. My favorite part of tabling was being able to give my community smoke and air quality information as it became more and more pertinent to the current wildfire and smoke conditions in the Gorge. It felt rewarding to be able to give the information in Spanish to those that work in agriculture and tend to be exposed to smoke the most. Tabling alone, although nerve racking, allowed me to see my place within this community and this field of work. I am no longer just on the receiving end, I have the power to participate and facilitate change too.

The bulk of my time in this latter part of my internship has been spent on the research and writing of the 2025 Columbia Gorge Food Security Assessment background pieces. This experience really challenged my ability to self-direct and manage complex, open-ended tasks. I learned to persevere beyond my frustrations with the Bureau of Labor Statistics website and how to write and research topics that are very personal and emotional for me. This internship is not long enough for me to follow this assessment to completion, but I couldn’t be more grateful to be able to contribute to it.

While I don’t know exactly where life will take me after this, I hope it returns me to this type of work once again in my life. I hope that one day I can come back to answer all of the questions left unanswered in the food security assessment. In the meantime, I will return to Lewis & Clark College to start my third year of college. This upcoming semester, I hope to participate in the fall musical, present at the Race Monologues and begin taking classes towards my data science minor. In the spring, I will be studying abroad in Prague where I hope to take part in the International Economics and Finance Certification Program. I realize I have a very long road ahead, but as I head into the future, I will forever carry a sense of inspiration from the work I was able to partake in at OSU Extension.

Con mucho amor,
Jazmin Contreras <3

Holis! My name is Jazmin Contreras and I am this summer’s Family and Community Health Intern at OSU Extension Service in Hood River County. I am now a third-year student at Lewis and Clark College majoring in economics and minoring in data science. What most caught my attention within the field of economics was economic development and global health economics because it emphasizes raising people’s overall quality of living by addressing needs beyond the financial. These include addressing hunger, education, and health. This internship provides me with a unique, social work perspective of how these needs are being addressed in my community and how we can continue to address them. I am most looking forward to gaining a deeper appreciation of qualitative data and humanity within research and giving back to the community that raised me to be the person I am today.

Food Hero Gecko made by program participant. Photo: Jazmin Contreras

This is week three of the internship for me and thus far one of my fondest memories was tabling at el Mercado del Valle (a Latino-operated farmers market). I offered a tasting of a veggie ceviche which people really enjoyed. The best part was the community, joy and live music. In these past few weeks, I have also been helping with summer camp programming and developing heat and smoke safety guidelines for youth and older adults.

In the coming weeks I am most excited to continue working on the 2025 Columbia Gorge Food Security Assessment. Not only will this project provide me with invaluable professional experience, it will also provide our community partners updated information with which to continue making our home a better place for everyone to live in. As the first-generation daughter of two farm workers, being able to participate in this assessment means the absolute world. But in the bigger picture it also means that more kids like me may have access to food and thus be able reach their dreams just as I am doing now. To end this blogpost, I want to leave you with a quote from a song I grew up with. Gerardo Reyes’ Sin Fortuna: “las letras no entran cuando se tiene hambre” or “letters cannot enter when one is hungry”. I feel that this song and this line specifically really capture my motivations for this project.

Hasta la proxima,

Jazmin Contreras.

Hi, I’m Molly Taylor, and I’m finishing up my last two weeks as an Extension intern in Hood River and Wasco counties, working in the Family and Community Health Program. Over the course of my internship, I’ve had many opportunities that have helped me develop skills for my future career, no matter what path I decide to take. 

A woman in a black Food Hero apron stands at a table filled with trail mix ingredients. — Molly Taylor providing DIY trail mix at a day camp in Hood River.

Some of my favorite experiences have been assisting and carrying out a 4-H cooking camp – where I got to do food demonstrations and teach kitchen skills and safety – providing snacks for local day camps and putting together recipe books for the SNAP-Ed program using Food Hero recipes. Throughout all of these experiences I’ve been able to build communication and teaching skills, planning strategies, and problem-solving methods that will benefit me in my future endeavors.

Over the summer, I’ve enjoyed working with different programs like Family and Community Health, 4-H and Open Campus/Juntos. I’ve been able to see all that Extension does in the community and how it truly makes a difference by getting people involved and excited about learning how to better themselves and the area they live in. Throughout all of these programs, I’ve had the opportunity to do a lot with kids and it’s been especially fun to see their excitement to learn and to then take their new knowledge home to their families. This showed that not only do Extension teaching programs support adults who are trying to make a difference, but also has that impact on younger generations which makes a lasting difference. 

With my internship coming to a close, for the last two weeks I will be finishing up the recipe books that will be handed out at local schools in the fall by the SNAP-Ed program in Wasco County and potentially doing something at the Wasco County Fair. I look forward to taking all the things I’ve learned from Extension and applying them to the rest of my schooling and future jobs and leave having an extra appreciation for the work and impact that Extension has on communities like mine. 

Hi there, I’m Molly Taylor. I grew up in The Dalles, and I’m currently a student at Oregon State University, where I just finished my third year. I’m majoring in nutrition with a dietetics option and a minor in public health. Once I finish my bachelor’s degree I hope to complete a dietetic internship/master’s program and become a registered dietitian. Right now, I picture myself doing clinical work in a hospital and potentially becoming a diabetes educator, so I’m excited to work with OSU Extension and learn about the strategies used to educate the public.

This summer I’m interning with Lauren Kraemer in the Extension Family and Community Health Program at the Extension offices in Wasco and Hood River counties. It’s my first time working as an intern with extension and I’m looking forward to seeing all the different tools and strategies Extension utilizes to reach different populations in the local communities. My impression right now, with only two weeks under my belt, is that Extension goes out into the community and provides more accessible and equitable learning opportunities that some communities may not have had without Extension services.

This summer I will be doing a variety of things such as food demonstrations at local farmers markets, handing out snacks at day camps, demonstrations at food pantries, along with helping out with some 4-H cooking camps and potentially helping to create a cookbook using Food Hero recipes for seasonal migrant workers and their families who make Wasco and Hood River counties their home for the summer.

Last week I got to see Extension in action when I helped out with a 4-H cooking camp. The camp taught kids how to cook a three-course meal using Food Hero recipes which are balanced, easy-to-make and affordable. The camp also allowed the kids to develop food safety skills and measuring techniques which got them excited about what they were eating because they had a part in creating it. There were also some MyPlate activities where we went over the MyPlate illustration with the kids and then had them build their own meals using pictures of different foods. It was fun to see the kids get excited about food and put their MyPlate knowledge to work by brainstorming different meals using some of their favorite foods while trying to incorporate all the food groups in order to have a balanced meal.

I’m excited to continue working and learning from all the opportunities and experiences that come with this internship!

Hello, my name is Cydney Stables. I am the intern for the OSU Extension Communications office, located in the Kerr Administration Building on the main Oregon State University campus in Corvallis.

Two girls are posing with a dairy cow. — Cydney Stables (right) shows a dairy cow in 4-H.

I’m from Gaston, Oregon, and I just completed my first year of college at Graceland University in Lamoni, Iowa. I am majoring in agribusiness, communications, business administration and economics with a minor in plant and animal sciences.

I plan to pursue a master’s in agricultural communications upon completing my undergraduate work. After that, I hope to obtain a job in agricultural public relations, working as a spokesperson for the agriculture industry or as an educator for Extension.

So far, this internship has given me insight into the vast future career opportunities I may have in Extension and communications. One of the greatest experiences I have had thus far was the opportunity to tour county Extension offices across the state.

In late May, I traveled with the communications’ news and public issues team to Pendleton, where we began our tour of offices from there.

We visited with faculty and staff in the Extension offices in Umatilla, Sherman, Wasco, Hood River and Clackamas counties.

Then at the beginning of June, I went with colleagues in Extension Communications to the Extension office in Tillamook County, where we met the staff and discussed communications resources on the Extension employee intranet and media outreach. On our way back to Corvallis, we stopped at the Extension office in Yamhill County, which is one that is very familiar to me. My mom works there and I’ve helped around the office in previous summers as a volunteer.

These trips opened my eyes to the breadth and depth of what Extension truly does. Growing up a part of Extension through the Oregon 4-H program, I had no idea how many opportunities OSU Extension offers for communities. In addition, I learned first-hand from faculty and staff about their successes, challenges and failures.

Hood River Extension office research orchard

The trip was an immersive experience. Not only did I get to see Extension employees in action, but I also had the opportunity to experience the diversity in agriculture across the state.

I learned about programs of SNAP-Ed, Strong People, Master Gardeners, Open Campus, Juntos and more. All of which are great community outreach opportunities that benefit individuals in countless ways.

I want to thank all of the employees from the county offices we visited for being so welcoming and kind.

I can’t wait to see what the rest of this internship learning opportunity has in store.

OSU Extension Internship Program

Category Archives: Hood River County

OSU Extension intern finds inspiration in Hood River

Food Hero intern finds social work perspective in Hood River County

Internship has given me an extra appreciation for Extension’s impact

Teaching youths and adults about nutrition in the Columbia Gorge

Traveling across Oregon to learn from Extension County faculty and staff

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