Weeks 3-4 as Intern, Loren Gross

Weeks 3-4 of my internship were an even more event filled whirlwind than my first 2 weeks in extension. I am learning more and more quite frankly that extension could be defined as one of the most interesting career paths in the world just because you never know what is coming your way.

Week Three began with an Agriculture Field Day held at a local farmers property in Eastview with demonstrations and informational sessions on Beef Production (with emphasis on facilities and rotational grazing), Tobacco Production , and Forage Production ( with emphasis on Haylag and bale wrapping procedure,equipment, and safety). My duties for this event were helping with set up and execution of facilitating presenters in order to allow smooth and effective running of the event. Presenters were also present from the community for a Trade Show facilitated on the property and was made of sponsors for the event. Working with the Ag agents in our county on this project we felt the event to be successful for being held midweek and having roughly 150 production participants for the demonstrations and workshops. When I look back on the event I realize more and more how important relationships, networking, and working with the community is for certain kinds of events to be completely successful.

The rest of week 3 was various meetings and such but the real event worth writing about in this time for me was during week 4, 4-H Teen Conference.

Having not been involved in 4-H after elementary school, 4-H Teen Conference was a completely foreign event and I had no idea at all what it was or what to expect. The theme for this year was "Discover the Treasures of 4-H". Even though this was the theme for the week for the attendees, I am quite sure the week truly did give me perspective and better understanding of not only how 4-H works but also the opportunities that it offers at its youth. From workshops and tracks focused on special interests to life skills, to the sessions commemorating student achievement and work, to the social and networking opportunities provided all wrapped up in a collegiate dorm life experience, Teen Conference for someone who never experienced it before and then broke it down, is a truly wonderful capstone experience for 4-H youth to experience the culmination of their labors come to fruition.

This blog post will be a bit shorter for one main reason, for 3 weeks in the month of June I will be participating in youth events: 4-H Teen Conference (already mentioned), Kentucky Youth Seminar, and 4-H Camp. The next post will be a reflection on the entire month as well as an update on weeks 5-6.