Firsts...

I still have a couple of days left of my internship but I've recently sat back and thought of all the things that I've done for the first time since I started this internship.

I rode on a helicopter for the first time ever. Although it was a scary moment I am so glad that I got the opportunity to do so. I had such a blast and I learned so much about helicopters and airplanes.

I attended camp for the first time in my life. I'm not much of an outside person, so when I heard about camp I was nervous. The first day was a lot to handle because our rooms didn't have air conditioning and the idea of using bath houses really scared me. Once I realized that I needed to just enjoy nature and enjoy spending time with the kids, I had a blast. I was a cabin leader for 20 girls and our cabin was filled with laughter and we all made lifelong memories. Experiencing camp for the first time ever is something that I will tell people for a long time; not only did I have to overcome my fears of bugs and bath houses but I learned a lot during those four days.

I taught a class at the YMCA. It may not sound like a lot but before starting this internship I was terrified of public speaking and now knowing that I can get up there and teach a whole class shows me how much I've grown during this time. I'm still not the biggest fan of speaking in public but I'm getting better.

I experienced the county fair for the first time. I had always heard about the fair but I had never gone to one.  This year fair week was a little crazy and we also worked in the 4-H booth selling food. At moments I found it very hard to keep going because I was tired, my feet were hurting but I pushed through and we had a very successful turn out.

I went to Teen Conference in Lexington. We took a couple of kids to Teen Conference and they all learned a lot and had a lot of fun. We got to stay in the new dorms at UK, which was very nice and the activities that we had planned out were a success.

I got to go to Virginia Tech and attend the NICE Conference. I had a blast at Virginia Tech and learned a lot about cooperatives and I know the kids learned a lot and they had so much fun, which is very rewarding. I am very glad I got to attend.

The things that I mentioned above aren't even half of the things that I did for the first time. Coming in to the internship I would have never thought that I would have done all this things and although some of them were scary or they were tiring they each taught me something about myself and I don't regret doing them. I learned that I can survive a week at camp, I learned that I can speak in public and not be terrified, I learned about how much of an influence we are to the youth. Each one of these lessons are things that I will need for the future and my future career.

Cloverbud Camp!

This year i was able to go to cloverbud camp again. I knew it would be fun just like last year, and different since we were going to another camp location. I was taking 3 boys down with our county to enjoy the weekend. i had never been to camp feltner before so i knew it would be a new experience.

We had a cabin full of very energetic kids that were ready to have a fun weekend at camp. we were able to settle in and get to know everyone when we got there. we met the staff and the other adults, who all seemed to be enthusiastic. friday evening was short but fun and got us warmed up for the rest of the time we would be there. saturday was a very long and hot day. we went to a lot of classes and activities that the kids really liked. the best part of the day was getting in the pool because it was really hot that weekend. i figured as the day went on the kids would start winding down, but they didnt seem to slow down a bit. they wanted to stay up all night with the new friends that they made.

even though it was 85 degrees in the cabin when we went to sleep saturday night, we were up and ready to go sunday morning to finish camp. we still were able to have class and fun activities even though we were leaving that afternoon. cloverbud was a successful even this year for sure and i definitely enjoyed it. i hope that all the kids did too and that they continue to keep going!

Busy in Breathitt County!

To say that I've had fun this summer would be a huge understatement. At first I was hesitant going into another community but I was welcomed with open arms. The staff here at the Breathitt County Extension Office have definitely showed me that a good relationship with your work family is key to a successful office. The past few weeks have been so busy that I haven't had much time to sit and think about everything I've done.

I have helped with several cooking classes from BBQ Day Camp to 4-H Cooking School. The children learned not only how to BBQ chicken the proper way but the safety precautions you must take when using a charcoal grill. 4-H Cooking School focused on nutrition in each different area. This three day camp consisted of a day focusing on fruits, a day on vegetables, and the last day on grains.

I was also included in planning the annual back-to-school day camp here in Breathitt County. Breathitt County 4-H partnered up with Douthitt Park Recreation to provide this day camp. We had over 90 children participate with well over 30 volunteers. The children went to several different classes taught by people in the community. They were given a backpack with several items that would assist them before school started back.

I also completed my intern project at the Breathitt Regional Juvenile Detention Center. My main focus was to teach financial literacy in my three session class, "Money Management." In the first lesson I explained the main differences between checking and savings accounts, how to write a check, and complete an entry into a check register. The second class focused on budgets and how each person must have a budget that fits their own needs. I also explained the different forms of debt such as loans, credit cards, and how those things effect you down the road.The last class I let the students test their ability to manage money by doing a Reality Store. For those who aren't familiar with this program, each student is given a career with a salary and monthly income. They are also given families where some people may have three children and others only have one. Then they must go around to all of the booths where they have to purchase all of their needs and wants with their limited monthly income. It may seem simple but it shows each student the value of a dollar. In my class there was only one student who could get by on one job alone. Most others had to have second jobs to provide for themselves and their families.

While I am very sad that my internship will soon be over, I cannot wait to see what these last few weeks have in store for me. I will be helping my agent as she goes and helps prepare for the state fair. Louisville, here I come!

Busy but Fantastic

Summer 2015 is winding down and so is my internship at the Clark County Extension Office. My to-do list is almost complete and my summer project is finalized. During my last blog I wrote about planning for a summer day camp called “Getting in the Garden.” Twenty youth participated in the day camp making food and learning about soil quality. All of the participants enjoy the day camp and were excited to share the recipes with their family and friends.

 After the day camp was completed, I went to work finalizing my main summer project. I contacted participants from the 2015 communications contest to video their speech and demonstration. These clips were made into a longer video for the agents to show in school classrooms. Along with the video, I created a grading sheet that includes a scale for the students to judge the participants in the video. The guidelines the students are judging came from the actual judging sheets for the communications contest. The video and judging sheets will allow the students to visually see what an actual speech or demonstration looks like for a competition.

 During the last week of my internship I had the opportunity to work with David Davis, the agriculture agent in Clark County. For David’s Ag Field day, I planned farm friendly kid’s activities for kids to do while the adults went on the farm tour. I also helped set up for the event, attended the event where I helped on the tour and with the kids activity, and of course cleaned up for two days afterwards. In between working on the field day, David let me tag along on a few farm visits where we looked at soy beans and maple trees. The work was hard but very rewarding.

To describe my summer in two words would be bust but fantastic. Some days went late into the night, some days were spent on the road, and some days were too short. Having the chance to work for the extension office has given me more of an appreciation for the agents. The agents in the Clark County Extension office do more than just go to camp and buy supplies for activities; they teach and support everyone they encounter.

Life as a Double Agent: Part 4

         Wow! I cannot believe that this is the last week of my internship at Butler County Cooperative Extension services. I can legitimately say I am going to miss the agents and staff that work there; they have been nothing but great and welcoming to me. The first day of my internship I walked in only knowing a few people, but when I left on Thursday I will have made some wonderful friends and colleagues. I have learned many new hobbies such as canning, freezing, quilting and painting.
           My last week in the office were spent totally on making a quilt of my summer! My quilt has 12 blocks and each block has a different event that I attended. The first block is a canning and freezing block. The Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Agent had at least 5 lbs. of fresh blueberries delivered to the office. After lightly rinsing each bag of berries I dried and separated them. I separated them in to separate bowls for jam, freezing and a blueberry cream cheese pound cake. We started with the cake, then made the jam and then finished with freezing the rest of the berries. It was definitely a new experience that inspired me to set aside more time to cook and bake.

            The second block is for Aerospace camp. At Aerospace camp I rode in a helicopter, learned how make rockets and how to fly an airplane. That was the first time I had ever flown an airplane and it was definitely an experience! I felt so confident after flying that airplane all by myself. While in the plane I taxied down the runway, took off, flew around in the air, learned many flying techniques and got a little help when landing the plane. I never expected in the beginning of my internship that I would be flying an airplane, but I am so glad that I did!

            The third and twelfth blocks are about the Catfish Festival. The third block is for all the work I did on setting up the 4H and Family and Consumer Sciences exhibits at the festival. The twelfth block was for Catfish Festival Judging. I was one of the judges for the 4H items. We judged them all: blue ribbon means great, red ribbon means needs improvement, and white ribbon means need extreme improvement. We also gave purple ribbons: the champion and grand champion of the categories.

            The fourth and seventh blocks have to do with Western Kentucky 4H Camp at Dawson Springs, Kentucky. The fourth one is just 4H camp. The 2015 4H camp was the first time I had ever been to 4H camp before in my life, I never went as a camper, CIT, teen or adult until this year. It was quite an experience, but I really enjoyed it! The seventh block is for the abstract art class that I taught at camp. I taught the kids what abstract art was, why people do it and famous paintings and artists. We did tape painting, name art and paint drop painting. It was an absolute blast because I love art and I think the campers really enjoyed it!

            The fifth block is the 4H clover. It stands for the four H’s: Head, Heart, Hands and Health. This clover shows that I did work with 4H and really got to know the in’s and out’s of 4H.  I did one or two things with 4H as a child and I wish now that I had done more. The sixth and ninth blocks are also events that I did with 4H. These are Day Camp and Teen Conference. At Day Camp the campers did a numerous amount of crafts each of which were categories in the Catfish Festival or the Kentucky State Fair. Teen Conference took place in Lexington, Kentucky on the University of Kentucky campus. There were hundreds of teens taking different classes, learning new skills and leadership. These kids were all very well behaved and I enjoyed this conference very much.

            The eighth block is a Family and Consumer Sciences block. This block stands for all the things I learned while working with FCS. I learned how to can, freeze, bake, quilt, sew, and use alcohol ink. I really enjoyed FCS because this is the field that I want to go in to. I love helping others to learn new skills that can help them in their family, personal, and recreational life and nutrition and health. It has been a blast learning all these wonderful skills and I plan to continue using all these skills.

            The tenth block stands for all the leadership skills that I have made over this summer internship. I have learned how to take all my leadership roles to the next level and really excel in being responsible. The eleventh block stands for 4H Shooting Sports. I got to go shooting at the Butler Co. Conservation Club. I had never shot anything but a handgun and ended up shooting many different types of guns.  I look forward to getting to spend more time out there or at the range. 

           I am so thankful that the University of Kentucky gave me the opportunity to do this internship! I now know what profession that I want to go in to and what I want to do with my life and I would not be able to say that if it weren't for this internship!

Fin

Words can’t explain how great of an experience I’ve had this summer.  I’ve met several wonderful people that are the epitome of hard workers. My final weeks consisted of creating a healthy school lunch program, kids cooking camp and Oldham County day. Kids cooking camp was a hand-on learning experience for kids and teens. We made scones, pickled relish, wheat rolls, chocolate cake, apple jelly, and biscuits. This three-day program taught them how to become proficient in the kitchen. They developed knife skills, sanitary skills, and identified potential program with a recipes. Oldham County day was an educational day for the community. We expressed the purpose of cooperative extension and advice women to become a homemaker.

I wish I had to words to express my gratitude towards extension.  I will miss this program dearly. My FCS agent Christ Duncan has been amazing and had taught me the true meaning of being a community leader.

Special Project

For my special project this summer, I led a Crafts and Apps class. During this class, participants made a craft followed by an appetizer. This Crafts and Apps class was Fourth of July themed and was held at the end of June so the participants would have their craft before the holiday. The participants made a fourth of July wreath out of clothes pins and burlap ribbon. For the appetizers, the participants made fruit pizzas. We made the fruit pizzas by switching up the usual cream cheese frosting with a healthier option using yogurt. Many of the participants said that they would rather have the healthier option than the unhealthy option. In preparing for the class, I used Pinterest to find a cute craft idea. I found the clothespins wreath that looked very easy to assemble. However, I had the pleasure of spray painting over 800 clothespin in the colors red, white, and blue by myself. I am glad I did put the time into because the end product looked better than the picture. I was so pleased with how they turned out. For the appetizers, I searched the internet and found the healthier option frosting for the fruit pizzas on eatright.org. To advertise the class, I contacted the local online newspaper, I made a flyer and passed them out, spoke about the class at other programs, and used social media. We had an attendance of six individuals come to the class. Kelli allowed for me to lead the class all by myself and I really enjoyed the responsibilities. It was a great class with fun participants and I would rate my special project as a great success.