Category Archives: Washington County

I’m excited to be here and to have such an opportunity!

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A smiling woman poses in front of a paper sign for the Washington County office of OSU Extension.
A warm welcome at my new desk.
Photo credit Destiny Driessen.

Hello everyone, my name is Destiny Driessen and this summer I will be working with Oregon State University Extension Service in Washington County. While I opted to not take summer classes, I am still an OSU student pursuing a major in sustainable horticulture and a minor in botany. I will mostly be working with 4-H staff members to ensure the youth involved in these programs are safe, included and engaged in activities. A lot of my time will be spent at various fairs across the county, helping and learning in any way I can.

While it’s still the first week of my internship and I’ve been going through the mundane activities that entails, I feel a growing excitement to attend fairs in the upcoming weeks. The first fair I will be attending is the horse fair, which should prove to be exciting. I hope to improve my abilities to communicate with people I may not know and to gain a sense of the amount of work that is put into these events. I have always held a passion for everything that nature has to offer, including plants and animals. And I believe it’s of the utmost importance to get youth excited about respecting nature and working with it in order to have enjoyable learning experiences. Nature has so much to offer, and society seems to increasingly ignore that. Youth are our greatest asset in changing the world and preserving nature.

A young woman stands outside and holds a bouquet of brightly colored flowers in front of her face.
Can’t forget to smell the flowers.
Photo credit Destiny Driessen.

While participating in this internship, I hope to learn a multitude of things. However, there are a couple that I am especially invested in. First, I aim to gain confidence in my abilities to communicate and connect with people in order to help spread knowledge. I would also like to hone my leadership skills so that I feel comfortable working with a diverse group of people and am able to keep them engaged. Last, as my summer project I hope to get an idea of what it’s like to create a seed packet that is both visually compelling and informative to the public — possibly, a seed blend for attracting native pollinators or a mix of edible native plants. I believe all of these goals will help me in my future as they are skills that will help connect me with people who have similar career paths and serve as a basis for my continued learning.

I am excited to be here and ready to serve my community.

Working in Extension expanded my passion for serving the community

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Hi, my name is Anahi (she/her/hers) and I am working for OSU Extension in Washington County this summer. In a couple of weeks, I’ll be heading back to college to start my sophomore year. I feel nostalgic for my time working with the team in the Washington County Extension Office, as time has flown by. Every event I attended provided me with new learning opportunities, from the work of our community leaders to the curiosity of the youth I mentored.  

I could not have asked for a better team, one full of compassionate and dedicated individuals who work to have an impact on the people in the county. As I reflect on my final weeks, I can only acknowledge how fortunate I was to have the privilege of joining the team.   As an Extension intern, I had the opportunity to be part of various community events. I was at free lunch sites throughout summer with a community organization, Operation H.O.P.E., to hand out science-activity bags. My days were filled with joy when I would softly hear “thank you” from every kid while they hurried to open up those bags.  

Brown gift bags with papers inside that say Bees of Oregon
Science activity bags ready for Operation H.O.P.E.

On the days I spent with the 4-H Youth Environmental Educators (YEE)  I mostly sat back and observed their work to learn as much as I could from them, their maturity, and their commitment to their projects. I would like to give a special thank you to the YEEs! All 10 kids brought fun to everything we did and being there to assist their adventures was a privilege. To have been part of their impact at Blue Lake Regional Park in Fairview and their community garden is beyond rewarding. Their dedication is something I will always admire. I spent days at the park with them and supported their planning days, learning and being mesmerized by their passion for everything they did.  

I also worked with Juntos, an Extension Open Campus program that quickly became incredibly significant to me. Juntos allowed me to share my experiences as a first-generation Latina student in a foreign country. I saw myself in every student I met, and I felt my family’s presence through every parent attending the meetings. Not only did I have the gift to share my story in order to inspire, but I did so alongside a hardworking leader and role model, my internship supervisor Ezequiel Lopez-Reyes. I can only hope that this summer is just the beginning of my time with Juntos. 

Extension expanded my passion for serving the community. It has been an experience that taught me the importance of curiosity, how much knowledge you can be gifted with by serving others, and that the resources available to us can always be shared to uplift others. To OSU Extension, thank you. I appreciate you taking the time to read about my personal Extension internship experience.

Giving Back to the Community: My Summer with OSU Extension

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Anahi Sanchez Marcial

Hi, my name is Anahi Sanchez Marcial, I use she/her/hers pronouns, and I am a first-year college student in Portland. I am majoring in neuroscience and spending my first summer of college with OSU Extension Service at Washington County. I’ll be here for 10 weeks and as I reflect on my first few days at the office, I could not be more excited to begin this journey.

I am a first-generation college student and a proud child of immigrant parents. I love all my STEM classes, practicing math with my friends, and discussing chemistry with my roommate. However, an immense part of me loves acts of service and the opportunities for personal growth that it offers.

I was not raised in Portland and I moved back a couple of years ago, expecting challenging times. To my surprise, in less than two years I learned to speak English and began to volunteer in Parkrose, my local neighborhood. The kindness and support I received from my teachers and mentors felt rewarding, heartwarming, and special. From there, my passion for community service only grew stronger.

I applied to be an OSU Extension intern with one intention: To give back to the community that welcomed me years back. Now, I only wish to expand my passions, education, and connections. So, keep up with us, an amazing group of interns and I’ll check in by the end of my time here to tell you all about it.