{"id":2124,"date":"2026-08-20T11:35:35","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T18:35:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/extintern\/?p=2124"},"modified":"2026-08-20T11:36:32","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T18:36:32","slug":"osu-extension-intern-reflects-on-lessons-learned-from-a-summer-with-4-h-and-extension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/extintern\/2026\/08\/20\/osu-extension-intern-reflects-on-lessons-learned-from-a-summer-with-4-h-and-extension\/","title":{"rendered":"OSU Extension intern reflects on lessons learned from a summer with 4-H and Extension"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Since my last post, many things have changed around here at the Yamhill County Extension office. We have now successfully made it through our week of county fair and are currently preparing for state fair in Salem next week. At our county fair, I got to help with a variety of things like designing and hanging up sponsor posters, handing out awards to our 4-H youth winners, and even driving a golf cart to help shuttle families during animal move-in. I\u2019m happy to say that this year, through better preparation, our fair went on fine without any major issues, making it smoother than years past. Overall, my experience at the fair was enjoyable and fun, even though it might have been very busy at times.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2123\" class=\"wp-caption thumbnail alignnone\" style=\"width: 2000px;\">\n    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2123 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/3908\/files\/2026\/08\/processed-DD01F4F2-5193-4C48-94C7-E1B9AD020052-1.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1501\" srcset=\"https:\/\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/3908\/files\/2026\/08\/processed-DD01F4F2-5193-4C48-94C7-E1B9AD020052-1.jpeg 2000w, https:\/\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/3908\/files\/2026\/08\/processed-DD01F4F2-5193-4C48-94C7-E1B9AD020052-1-300x225.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/3908\/files\/2026\/08\/processed-DD01F4F2-5193-4C48-94C7-E1B9AD020052-1-1024x769.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/3908\/files\/2026\/08\/processed-DD01F4F2-5193-4C48-94C7-E1B9AD020052-1-768x576.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/3908\/files\/2026\/08\/processed-DD01F4F2-5193-4C48-94C7-E1B9AD020052-1-1536x1153.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" \/>\n    <figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Summer intern, Armando, stands in front of the OSU Extension Service Yamhill County sign in McMinnville, Oregon. Photo: Julie Jensen<\/figcaption>\n    <\/figure>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Outside of the fair, my experience at this office has\u00a0also been\u00a0wonderful. I feel like\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0become part of a small but inviting local community here. If you missed my\u00a0initial\u00a0blog post,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0important to know that this program is my first experience working with 4-H or Extension ever. I had\u00a0somewhat known\u00a0of 4-H growing up,\u00a0but I\u00a0had no idea Extension even existed!\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0enjoyed this program even more because of this fact, as knowing the effort that my office and all the other county offices put in to keep our programs running has truly been something special.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">As with everything, however, there have been\u00a0ups and downs. A challenge I had to overcome this summer was navigating the stress and high intensity of\u00a0working\u00a0my first county fair. From this experience, I learned the value of clear and concise communication with my supervisor and coworkers, which might seem like a simple aspect of the job but can be easily overlooked. If I had any advice to give to future interns it would be just how important communication can be. I have a great dynamic with my supervisor here, where I can ask questions and be vocal about any issues I might have.<\/span><br \/>\n<span data-contrast=\"auto\">As\u00a0of\u00a0writing,\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0in my last week of my internship.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0a bittersweet moment, but\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0also looking forward to\u00a0keeping in contact\u00a0with my coworkers and potentially coming back here for a future position. My time at this office has not only been\u00a0fun, but\u00a0has given me valuable work experience and insight into everyday programs that serve our communities. A key takeaway for me is that more people should be aware of OSU Extension and university extensions in general, as\u00a0I feel not enough people\u00a0understand the value of the programs they provide us. This internship was just the start of my experience with OSU\u00a0Extension\u00a0and I hope it continues!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Since my last post, many things have changed around here at the Yamhill County Extension office. We have now successfully made it through our week of county fair and are currently preparing for state fair in Salem next week. At our county fair, I got to help with a variety of things like designing and&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/extintern\/2026\/08\/20\/osu-extension-intern-reflects-on-lessons-learned-from-a-summer-with-4-h-and-extension\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/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":[9,114],"tags":[320],"class_list":["post-2124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-4-h","category-yamhill-county","tag-armando-peters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/extintern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2124","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=2124"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/extintern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2124\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2127,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/extintern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2124\/revisions\/2127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/extintern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/extintern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/extintern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}