Job Description:
Attend meetings, plan a camp class, lead Gardening Club, cure hams,
assist with Homemakers, make preparations for the upcoming 3 weeks of
conferences and camps, and orient delegates and volunteers
Benefits: Lunch is
provided for the first two weeks
As I began my internship with the LaRue County Extension
office this summer, I thought I was prepared for anything. Turns out, I must have prepared for the wrong
things. I came into this internship with
a 4-H back ground and had studied up on the purpose and goals of Extension Services
however, this did little justice of giving me a taste for what the first two
weeks would be like.
Coming in to the office on that first day filled my planner,
and brain, very quickly. The first day
was nice and slow only making fliers, doing some Teen Conference preparations,
and penciling in a Cooking Club meeting for the afternoon. I stopped in, took pictures, and talked to
them a little about the chocolate chip muffins they were making. The rest of the week however flew by like a hurricane. Go big or go home; so I attended the District
5 meeting, helped with Teen Conference orientation, Homemakers meeting, country
ham curing for the state fair, and lead Gardening Club all in the first
week. The time flew by and you hardly
know where it goes.
After what seemed like a short weekend, already working a
Saturday, Monday rolled in on two wheels as I attended the Client Protection Committee
meeting and assisted in leading the Camp Training meeting that afternoon. Finally, Tuesday slowed the pace a
little. As I prepared and looked through
materials to figure out for myself what the Kentucky Youth Seminar is all about
I had a moment, just long enough, to realize the summer would be going by much
quicker than I wanted as my next 3 weeks will be spent at overnight conferences
and camps. But, the show must go
on! So I finished out the afternoon with
a United Way Advisory Committee meeting.
Wednesday I was able to get some time out of the office as Lydia
Richardson, the Meade County 4-H intern, and I took a little trip to Lake
Cumberland 4-H camp for the morning. We
spent some time there selecting and identifying several tree species to use in
preparation for the class we will be teaching during our week at camp. We had both attended camp in our younger
years and though we knew the grounds so well at one point, it was helpful to
get back down there and re-familiarize ourselves. These last few days of closing down the first
two weeks for me have been a little slower.
As my advisor is out of the office for a couple days I have been
preparing my camp lesson more in depth and attended the Rotary Club meeting
with our ANR agent. You think things
would even out at some point and reach a steady pace but as I sit here in the office
with only 3 other staff members for the rest of the week, I wonder if that will
happen. I suppose for now I will
appreciate the down time I do have as I work through the last few things in
preparation for heading out to Teen Conference on Monday.
On the plus side hard work really does pay off, in more ways
than one. As the summer continues I’m
looking forward to the many memory making opportunities I will encounter. Though in most cases you will not reap the
benefits up front, LaRue County Extension takes a different approach to
that. With all of the hustle and bustle
theses two weeks through meetings and other events, I have not had a single day
that lunch was not provided for me. Be
it potluck or catering, I have been privileged with the good company and
food. I am very appreciative of the
staff that have welcomed me in and placed me right in the middle of the
happenings within LaRue County. It’s
good to be back home.
This week’s lasting impression: This moment was brought to me by the precious ladies in attendance at the county
homemaker’s annual meeting. These women
warm my heart and put a smile on my face.
I look forward to the day when I can appreciate the time to sit down
with my friends for a potluck dinner like these do.
The joy these ladies had just to be there and the discussions I may have
overheard were blissful. That’s a small
town for you and it reminds me of the reasons I want to stick around.
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