Interesting, Fun, Unique, and Over too Soon

It’s almost my last week as an intern in Marion County and I can honestly say that the time has flown by. Monday will start my last week, I really have enjoyed my summer as an intern and I feel that I have learned a lot about extension. This week I did my program, I had created a program that focused on the 4-H achievement application. I started the program by having the participants complete a personal style inventory as a warm up, this let participants realize that there are different styles of leadership. We also had a quick lesson on the history of 4-H, the lesson discussed the land grant system, extension and Ag research stations. I also lead a discussion on why 4-H has meetings and how they relate to the real world. The program also covered the different offices and what was expected of each officer, as well as parliamentary procedure of meetings. The final portion of the program was an explanation of what the 4-H achievement application is, how to fill it out, why fill it out, when to turn it in and going over any questions that people had. I had eight youth participants and two parents come to the program. I wanted to cover the history of 4-H because I think it important for 4-h participants to realize that it is a part of something bigger and to see what it used to be and what is now. I also wanted to cover leadership, meeting, and procedure because the application has a large focus on leadership in the clubs, so I wanted the 4-Hers to know what kind of opportunities there were. All in all I think the program went very well, I had participants complete a pre and post-test as well as an evaluation. Seven of the eight improved their scores on the test and one maintained their score, the evaluation showed that the majority felt more confident in their ability to correctly complete the application. I was very pleased with the way the program went and the responses I received from the participants.

Over the course of the last eleven weeks I have been fortunate enough to get to work with all three program areas and all three agents, this has allowed me to participate in, observe, and assist with a wide variety of programs. The exposure to different aspects of extension has made reevaluate my career possibilities, not outside extension but in relation to which area is the best fit for me. Working with the different agents has also provided me with a wealth of knowledge, and each agent has offered me different pieces of advice, all of which I have found very helpful. I have been very fortunate this summer to get to work in an office where all of the agents interact with one another, and work so well together, it has made my time as intern interesting, fun, unique, and over too soon

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