{"id":1774,"date":"2025-08-05T15:04:38","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T22:04:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/extintern\/?p=1774"},"modified":"2025-08-05T15:04:38","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T22:04:38","slug":"growing-confidence-and-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/extintern\/2025\/08\/05\/growing-confidence-and-community\/","title":{"rendered":"Growing Confidence and Community"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gracie Cox<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Since my last post, my weeks at Extension are flying by and I\u2019m feeling more and more ingrained in Lane County\u2019s projects and culture.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

By far, the most exhilarating experience of my internship has been working at the Lane County Fair with our 4-H team for the 4-H and FFA Fair. Coming from a suburban background where my interactions with animals amounted to the occasional squirrel, witnessing the dedication, community and skill of 4-Hers at the fair was incredible. And even more so, I admired the efforts of 4-H families, volunteers and, of course, staff in aiding their success. While fair showed me just how much I still have to learn about this program, I\u2019m impressed by how quickly I picked up the small details that enable an event as complex as fair to run smoothly; these being thorough and direct communication, knowing when to plan ahead and when to act in the moment and how to prioritize the public\u2019s often contrasting needs.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n \"A\n
A youth showman walking their steer to be groomed in the Lane County Fair’s Cattle Barn. Photo: Gracie Cox<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n

A key takeaway from fair, and this experience as a whole, is that in public service, there is no \u201cperfect\u201d decision or program. There will always be unexpected (or even expected) hurdles, and the key to being successful in public-facing roles is embracing these challenges as learning opportunities. Even more, I\u2019ve learned to focus on positive feedback and experiences to contextualize the less positive. Appreciating that, at the end of the day, your work has a net positive impact on the community is key to maintaining the vigor necessary to sustain yourself in this field. This is a lesson I plan on referring back to in all areas of my life, whether it be my education, career, relationships or as an overall approach to where and how I spend my time.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n \"Two\n
Gracie and Lane County 4-H’s EPA, Kate Hammarback, preparing materials for Master Showmanship at Lane County’s 4-H and FFA Fair. Photo: Elizabeth Gangwer<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n

For future Extension interns, my advice is to throw yourself into the experience, even when it may be intimidating to try new things and potentially mess up. The \u201cnewness\u201d of experiences and people at Extension is what makes this opportunity so beneficial. Lean into the aspects that you\u2019re unfamiliar with and watch your confidence grow day by day. Those days will soon turn into weeks, which will turn into months, and all of a sudden, you\u2019ll be preparing to tell Extension \u201cgoodbye.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gracie Cox\u00a0 Since my last post, my weeks at Extension are flying by and I\u2019m feeling more and more ingrained in Lane County\u2019s projects and culture.\u00a0 By far, the most exhilarating experience of my internship has been working at the Lane County Fair with our 4-H team for the 4-H and FFA Fair. Coming from… Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14885,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,75,137],"tags":[297],"class_list":["post-1774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-4-h","category-lane-county","category-livestock","tag-gracie-cox"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/extintern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/extintern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/extintern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/extintern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14885"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/extintern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1774"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/extintern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1774\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1776,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/extintern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1774\/revisions\/1776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/extintern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/extintern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/extintern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}