Tag Archives: Leah Lowe

Internship in Wasco County ends with a FAIR-well

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Two women poke their heads through a cutout of a flower and a pig.
Leah Lowe (upper left), Wasco County 4-H Program Coordinator, and Brandi Vance.
Photo credit: Susan Coleman

Hello, this is Brandi Vance, OSU Extension intern in Wasco County. The second half of my internship was filled with preparations for fair time. What does this mean you might ask? Lots of caffeine and long days. This happened to be my favorite time, organizing all the awards, making sure our barn superintendents had what they needed as well as making sure the kids were entered correctly for their fair classes. This may sound like a lot, but I had the best team that I was assisting. My supervisor, Leah Lowe, Wasco County’s 4-H program coordinator, made sure I knew exactly where to go and what to do all while handling all her duties.

Finally, we got to fair week. The best and maybe most crazy time of year. We moved all our office supplies we would need for the week to the fairgrounds (which is actually 45 minutes away from our normal office) and proceeded to organize. Next, we had horse fair which is actually held a few days before the main fair takes place. We had a great judge who taught the kids so much during their shows. We managed to do everything from showmanship to western games all in one day. Then we ended the night with a skill-a-thon I designed and awards as well as a Mongolian barbeque one of the leaders made. After a small break, we checked in all our static exhibits. We had kids coming in all day with artwork, photography, even some sewing and cooking. We had a great turn out this year!

A long row of 4-H champion belt buckles.
Wasco County 2023 Grand Champion and Reserve Grand Champion Belt Buckles.
Photo credit: Brandi Vance

The next day it was time to get everyone settled into the fairgrounds – as settled as you can get in 106-degree weather – and have an exhibitor meeting. Every 4-H’er and leader/volunteer got a shirt, and the kids even got a bucket for the fair thanks to many great sponsors. We played minute-to-win-it games that featured one kid with a bag covered in shaving cream on their head while the other partner threw peanuts to try and get them to stick. The team with the most peanuts stuck wins. We played games at each of our night meetings to give the kids and volunteers a chance to relax after a long day of fair festivities. Not to mention the swag that the kids with good sportsmanship got each evening. The following days were filled with early mornings, market classes and even showmanship classes. The kids did absolutely phenomenal and won lots of awards and made so many improvements.

Then it happened, my last day. I ended up getting a thank you card from a member of one of our local clubs. I had so much fun and learned more than I imagined I would during the duration of my internship in Wasco County. The kids, the Extension staff, the parents/volunteers/leaders made it the best experience and I am missing it already. I already have plans to go help at fair next year!

Cannot wait to tackle more projects and camps

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A lineup of people ready to start toy cars.
Kids built solar powered cars at the renewable energy summer camp at Columbia Gorge Community College.
Photo credit: Lu Seapy.

Hello, my name is Theo Sandoz, and I am excited to be back for my  second year as an intern with Oregon State University Extension Service in Wasco County.  I am a student at OSU studying nuclear engineering.  Returning to the Wasco office feels like I never left, and the office is still as busy as ever.  I am working alongside Keon Kiser who is also a returning intern for Wasco County.  Our biggest project for the summer is planning and helping to facilitate S.T.E.M. day camps in Wasco County.  There are other projects, especially those involving our county fair, that I am also very keen on doing.

First and foremost, we have our summer camps.  So far, I have helped put on many day camps, including Aerodrone Academy, Galactic Quest and Renewables.  The Areodrone camp had our campers learning how to program and fly small drones.  Throughout this two-day camp we challenged all the campers to fly through and around obstacles and land on specific landing pads while directly controlling the drone and while the drone moved autonomously.

Another great camp that we put on is called Galactic Quest.  The curriculum for this camp comes directly from national 4-H and was a blast.  The campers made telescopes and cypher wheels and we played a lot of the Astro Adventure board game (Think Catan Spacefarers).

The most recent camp was our Renewables camp.  In this two-day camp we spent the first day learning all about solar energy and then everyone built a small solar car and got to take it home.  The second day was all about wind energy.  With a few model turbines and some box fans we were able to turn the classroom into a wind tunnel and teach kids about turbine blade design and its effect on the power that wind turbines produce.  The camps are incredibly fulfilling to put on as many of the campers get very invested in what we are teaching and bring their wild imagination to these fun events.

As August is fast approaching it is time to begin prepping for the Wasco County Fair and  Rodeo.  The Wasco County Fair runs Aug. 17-20 this year.  This is my first year since 2012 that I have not participated in 4-H as a member.  I still want to be as helpful as possible for those that are in 4-H and help put on an absolutely rocking fair and continue to do so for years to come.  Because of my position as an intern, I have unique access to planning and operating certain events at the fair.  I am most excited to work with Leah Lowe, Wasco County Extension 4-H program coordinator, on a new Livestock and Poultry Skill-a-Thon for the 2023 Fair.  This is something that we started hosting last year and we plan to expand on last year’s vision and make the Skill-a-Thon a fully fledged event that can continue to be something 4-H members in Wasco County look forward to in years to come.

For the next month there are many more projects and camps that I cannot wait to tackle!