{"id":2054,"date":"2026-08-05T08:59:41","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T15:59:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/extintern\/?p=2054"},"modified":"2026-08-06T16:49:35","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T23:49:35","slug":"osu-extension-intern-empowers-youth-through-hands-on-learning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/extintern\/2026\/08\/05\/osu-extension-intern-empowers-youth-through-hands-on-learning\/","title":{"rendered":"OSU Extension intern empowers youth through hands-on learning"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi!\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0Emma Branson, the intern for\u00a0OSU\u00a0Extension\u00a0in Lane County.\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0a sophomore at the\u00a0University of Oregon majoring in\u00a0environmental\u00a0science\u00a0with a minor in secondary educational foundations.\u00a0My career\u00a0goal\u00a0is\u00a0to guide\u00a0environmental\u00a0education\u00a0by\u00a0connecting communities to the land\u00a0beyond classroom walls, especially for youth\u00a0and agriculture.\u00a0I hope to be a high school agriculture science\u00a0teacher, but\u00a0I am\u00a0exploring all\u00a0aspects of this industry!\u00a0Growing up, I\u00a0participated\u00a0in Lane County 4-H for\u00a013 years\u00a0showing\u00a0goats,\u00a0small animals,\u00a0horticulture, communications, family consumer sciences<\/span>\u00a0and more.\u00a0These\u00a0urban agricultural\u00a0experiences\u00a0with OSU Extension\u00a0motivated\u00a0me to intern with\u00a0them in\u00a0Lane County.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n \"\"\n
Emma smiles with a sweet treat after the Lane County 4-H & FFA Fair statics judging day. Photo: Joaquin Yoos<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n

This summer, I hope to\u00a0learn\u00a0management styles and communication skills for leading\u00a0Extension programs.\u00a0In my first month of this internship, I\u00a0led youth cooking classes\u00a0for a summer camp at a local urban farm!\u00a0I practiced teaching knife skills, food safety,\u00a0measurements\u00a0and basic nutrition to 4th grade students in an outdoor kitchen.\u00a0This\u00a0program\u00a0built my confidence in event planning through preparation,\u00a0attention to detail\u00a0and\u00a0communication,\u00a0as well as\u00a0gaining practical teaching experience.\u00a0Additionally, I\u00a0supported staff\u00a0at the Lane County 4-H & FFA Fair by communicating directly with\u00a0the\u00a0youth,\u00a0families\u00a0and\u00a0volunteers\u00a0to ensure\u00a0everyone had a positive learning\u00a0experience.\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0grateful for the guidance from my mentors and the opportunity to\u00a0independently\u00a0strengthen\u00a0my\u00a0skills.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Moving forward,\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0ready\u00a0to\u00a0collaborate\u00a0with\u00a0more\u00a0Extension programs\u00a0offered in Lane County!\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0excited\u00a0to\u00a0complete\u00a0my\u00a0Master Food Preserver certification, help with\u00a0Forestry\u00a0community outreach, and\u00a0join in on Small Farms projects.\u00a0I plan to continue making the most of my internship by\u00a0working hard and having fun!\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi!\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0Emma Branson, the intern for\u00a0OSU\u00a0Extension\u00a0in Lane County.\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0a sophomore at the\u00a0University of Oregon majoring in\u00a0environmental\u00a0science\u00a0with a minor in secondary educational foundations.\u00a0My career\u00a0goal\u00a0is\u00a0to guide\u00a0environmental\u00a0education\u00a0by\u00a0connecting communities to the land\u00a0beyond classroom walls, especially for youth\u00a0and agriculture.\u00a0I hope to be a high school agriculture science\u00a0teacher, but\u00a0I am\u00a0exploring all\u00a0aspects of this industry!\u00a0Growing up, I\u00a0participated\u00a0in Lane County 4-H for\u00a013 years\u00a0showing\u00a0goats,\u00a0small animals,\u00a0horticulture, communications,… 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":[9,95,148,75,322,37],"tags":[328],"class_list":["post-2054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-4-h","category-forestry-and-natural-resources","category-horticulture","category-lane-county","category-master-food-preservers","category-small-farms","tag-emma-branson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/extintern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2054","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=2054"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/extintern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2054\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2068,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/extintern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2054\/revisions\/2068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/extintern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/extintern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/extintern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}