{"id":2102,"date":"2026-08-14T09:32:24","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T16:32:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/extintern\/?p=2102"},"modified":"2026-08-14T09:32:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T16:32:24","slug":"osu-extension-intern-honors-2026-fair-exhibitors-and-leaves-behind-lasting-resources","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/extintern\/2026\/08\/14\/osu-extension-intern-honors-2026-fair-exhibitors-and-leaves-behind-lasting-resources\/","title":{"rendered":"OSU Extension intern honors 2026 fair exhibitors and leaves behind lasting resources"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hello again!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Just in case you\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0already read my first blog post\u00a0<\/span>(linked here)<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0I\u2019ll\u00a0go ahead and re-introduce myself. My name is Brooke Parker, and this summer I have had the opportunity to intern with Deschutes County 4-H at their OSU Extension office. I am headed into my final year of\u00a0undergrad\u00a0at OSU E-Campus, studying business administration, with double minors in writing as well as agricultural communications.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

My main roles in this internship so far have been to support Deschutes County\u2019s horse fair and general fair. I have also been working on creating a task sheet to document everything that happens every year to make the fairs successful.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n \"\"\n
Brooke’s first round of rabbit showmanship she judged. Brooke notes that the student on the left is answering a question that she asked her, and “the one on the right is doing an excellent job remaining attentive, while also managing her rabbit and ensuring it didn’t try to hop off. (The rabbit had grown impatient of sitting by this point in the long show day).” Photo: Stephanie Parker<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n

During the fair, which happened two weeks ago, my role consisted of little supporting errands such as\u00a0brining\u00a0requested items to the\u00a0superintendents, or\u00a0helping set up our 4-H ice cream booth.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n \"\"\n
Brooke asking questions to one of the rabbit showmen. Photo: Stephanie Parker<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n

Apart from that, my major daily responsibility during the fair was to judge\u00a0herdsmanship\u00a0in the swine and beef barns.\u00a0Herdsmanship\u00a0is a competition where 4-H members are graded on the appearance and quality within three categories: members\u2019 presence, the animals, and their area as well as\u00a0common areas\u00a0near their club.\u00a0It was fun to walk through the barns every day and catch glimpses of 4-H’ers getting ready for shows and taking care of their animals.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

My main project was raising and breeding rabbits when I used to do 4-H. Knowing this, my supervisor, Morgan, offered me the opportunity to judge the rabbit master showmanship.\u00a0\u00a0At first, I was concerned that I might not remember enough about rabbits to judge well. I borrowed a rabbit 4-H\u00a0handbook\u00a0and all the information came right back to me. I feel like that goes to show how much the 4-H program can leave\u00a0a lasting impression, that I remembered\u00a0almost everything, even after years\u00a0away from the environment.<\/span><\/p>\n

I had fun interacting with all the Champion and Reserve Champion small animal\u00a0<\/span>showmen<\/span>. It was\u00a0<\/span>likely\u00a0<\/span>many<\/span>\u00a0of the students first time showing a rabbit<\/span>\u00a0(for those who typically showed other species). I was pleased to shake their hands after each round and congratulate them on the\u00a0<\/span>hard work<\/span>\u00a0that had gotten them there.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In these final two weeks of my internship, I plan to wrap up the task sheet. My goal is to create a useful resource for 4-H staff in future years, that will help operations to be more efficient and reduce the mental load of organizing the fair each year.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Once again, a big thank you to Morgan Henson, my supervisor for this internship, and to the rest of the 4-H staff, as well as\u00a0all of\u00a0our wonderful superintendents and volunteers.\u00a0And a big congratulations to all of the 2026 Deschutes County\u00a0Fair exhibitors for finishing out another year!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hello again!\u00a0 Just in case you\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0already read my first blog post\u00a0(linked here),\u00a0I\u2019ll\u00a0go ahead and re-introduce myself. My name is Brooke Parker, and this summer I have had the opportunity to intern with Deschutes County 4-H at their OSU Extension office. I am headed into my final year of\u00a0undergrad\u00a0at OSU E-Campus, studying business administration, with double… 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":[9,263],"tags":[319],"class_list":["post-2102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-4-h","category-deschutes-county","tag-brooke-parker"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/extintern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2102","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=2102"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/extintern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2102\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2106,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/extintern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2102\/revisions\/2106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/extintern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/extintern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/extintern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}