{"id":1954,"date":"2026-07-21T13:04:27","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T20:04:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/extintern\/?p=1954"},"modified":"2026-07-21T13:04:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T20:04:27","slug":"osu-extension-intern-supports-healthy-communities-and-accessible-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/extintern\/2026\/07\/21\/osu-extension-intern-supports-healthy-communities-and-accessible-education\/","title":{"rendered":"OSU Extension intern supports healthy communities and accessible education"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hello! My name is Colleen Lovdokken. I am\u00a0double majoring\u00a0in biology and\u00a0Spanish at Oregon State\u00a0University. I hope to work in community-based conservation for my\u00a0future\u00a0career.\u00a0With OSU\u00a0Extension, I work across the Willamette Valley and on the coast conducting nitrate screenings of well water and educating homeowners about their wells and septic systems. This summer, I am excited to experience farmers\u2019\u00a0markets and community events while making a meaningful impact on people\u2019s quality of life. I hope to grow\u00a0in\u00a0community engagement and education skills through interacting with\u00a0individuals\u00a0from\u00a0various\u00a0locations and backgrounds.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n \"\"\n
Interns, Colleen (right) and Abby (left) conduct a nitrate screening at the Brownsville Farmers’ Market. Photo: Melanie Reynolds<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n
\n \"\"\n
Nitrate test tubes at the Brownsville Farmers’ Market. Photo: Colleen Lovdokken<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n

So far, I have attended the Millersburg and Brownsville Farmers\u2019\u00a0Markets.\u00a0For these markets, I was joined by one other intern as well as a representative from the EPA\u00a0(Environmental Protection Agency). Together, we completed\u00a036\u00a0tests and talked to\u00a066\u00a0community members\u00a0about our educational materials and\u00a0OSU\u00a0Extension’s work.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the office, I have also been developing bilingual educational materials for well owners. Getting to use my Spanish language skills while developing resources that make well water education more accessible has been invaluable.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One thing that\u00a0stands\u00a0out\u00a0to me so far is\u00a0the collaboration involved in every step of our work.\u00a0Everyone has their\u00a0individual strengths and getting to work together allows us to connect with community members and grow\u00a0as a team.\u00a0I\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0wait to see what this summer brings!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0– Colleen Lovdokken<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hello! My name is Colleen Lovdokken. I am\u00a0double majoring\u00a0in biology and\u00a0Spanish at Oregon State\u00a0University. I hope to work in community-based conservation for my\u00a0future\u00a0career.\u00a0With OSU\u00a0Extension, I work across the Willamette Valley and on the coast conducting nitrate screenings of well water and educating homeowners about their wells and septic systems. This summer, I am excited to… Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14884,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[146,315],"tags":[317],"class_list":["post-1954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-groundwater-protection","category-mid-and-southern-willamette-valley","tag-colleen-lovdokken"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/extintern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1954","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\/14884"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/extintern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1954"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/extintern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1954\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1973,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/extintern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1954\/revisions\/1973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/extintern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/extintern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/extintern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}