My First Two Weeks as an Intern

     It’s been a great first two weeks here in Fayette County with Eric Comely, one of the 4-H agents here.  The first few days were spent settling in to the office.  On my first day I met everyone in the office, attended a staff meeting, and a board meeting. The rest of the week was pretty laid back, organizing camp gear and planning out important dates for the summer.  I also had a chance to meet people in a few of the programs.  Tuesday I was able to sit in on a camp-planning meeting where they were trying to think of ways to make counselor training for enjoyable.  I also got to meet the Fayette County Envirothon Team, who had just won state and will be going to Montana for nationals later this summer.  

     Later in the week I went to Rough River for a Project Underground and Project Learning Tree facilitators training. This was a three-day training put on by Kentucky Association For Environmental Educators (KAEE).  Both of these projects are designed to teach students form pre-k to 12^th grade about the environment, as well as teach them how to think not what to think.  Both are full of fun activities to go along with lessons on very interesting issues.  Project Underground is all about caves, karst areas, and issues that involve both.  Project Learning Tree deals with a wider array of environmental issues, like forestry, waste management, and wildlife.  This is a more general program, but I was also trained in the secondary modules that go along with it and focus more specific areas.  With this training I am able to train educators in both projects so they can use them in their classes to teach students and do some of the activities with them.  

     I started off the next week going to Jabez to help train the nature instructors for camp.  We took them around Lake Cumberland’s camp catching salamanders and insects; we even found a new cave.  We also showed them some fun nature themed games they could play with campers.  One night we went owl calling and found 3 or 4 owls around camp.

     This past Wednesday I went with Eric to Jackson, Kentucky were he taught a group of students about mammals and their different furs.  We also talked about project ideas for me to do this summer.  The following Friday I went to camp at Feltner to show the nature instructor there around camp and teach her a few different tree species on the property. Then came back to Lexington to set up for a 4K we held on Saturday to raise money for 4-H.  So far I’ve had a great time here and I look forward to the rest of the summer.