Final Reflections of My Internship

When I began my internship 10 weeks ago, I gave myself six broad goals that I wished to accomplish during my time. I believe that I have met these goals, and I hope to continue building my knowledge of Extension from now on.

1. To obtain a better understanding of 4-H youth development programs in NW Ohio.
My previous history of 4-H YD programs was limited to my own home county, and what anyone else could have provided me. Now, given the chance to work with another county (and the outlying counties) I have a more broaded scope of what I can do as a 4-H educator. There are many programs that each county holds unique to their own. These programs make a county special and help to understand how demographics play a role in what programs are most successful.

2. To view a different demographic other than my hometown.

The demographics of Allen county are quite different that that of my home county. They have a broad range of city to farm people in which all must be reached by extension. These demographics helped to remind me that 4-H isn't just about cows and sewing anymore, it's much much more!

3. Learn from my county educator about the pros and cons of being an educator.

I did learn many pros and cons of being an educator for extension. I think the biggest con is that your job can often rely on county funding, or the willingness of others to donate. It is not recognized as a job well done, but just a job completed. For me, the pros of the job are something I could list. I loved working with non-traditional youth in the ASP programming, and I also loved the flexibility in working from home, or in other enviroments other than the typical office.

4. Form a professional portfolio that I will be able to use once I enter the job market.

My portfolio is almost complete at this point, with as many artifacts that I could find to compliment my time spent with the office. Once edited, it will also contain a program plan for officer trainings, and a philosophy of my teching.

5. Build a better understanding of real program development.

Building programs is one thing, but real educational programs are something that take great care and knowledge. Mark was able to help me get in the middle of many programs with youth in different situations. Some where spur of the moment, and others (think officer training) were planned over the course of my time at the office.

6. Learn more about what it means to be a part of a real office for a small amount of time.

Learning how to deal with the many office personalities was someting that I was expecting. The office I worked in was very open and welcoming to learning about me, as much as I was interested in learning about them. I feel that I did everything I could to make the people I worked with enjoy my time in their office. I hope that they feel the same. I learned a great deal from the people I worked with, and I was given the chance to see many expertises in one enviroment.

My internship with Mark and his office has given me a 10 week snippet of what it is like to work in Extension. The small time has given me hope that I will one day be able to work as an Educator in a county. I have also been blessed with many networking opportunities, and increaased knowledge in technology and it's role for future educators. I do hope to keep in touch with my internship county, and continue my learning and networking as I finish up my coursework.

Kevin Gamble

Blogs, Micro Blogs, Tweets, Social Networking, Mash Up, Workstreaming, Public Knowledge and Second Life. These a just a few of the buzz words that have started making their way into the big time. Personally, just last week I started using Twitter (and posting Tweets, a sort of micro blogging). I sat in on two lectures regarding Technology in general, and then another session on Second Life. The who day was really facinating for me to start to dig into what I would like to be doing more of, Technology Education! I have been working some with other forms of Web 2.0 applications ( Blogger, Xanga, Facebook, Myspace, My Church just to name a few) but to see how education and these things are coming together is really truly exciting. The day also gave me some networking opportunities to use for starting my research project. I am planning on doing something with young adults and how technology is affecting them. I think that the most important thing I learned about today was the Metaverse Roadmap. I would like to learn more about how it was formed, and more specific descriptions of it.

Growing Up Online & Reference Checks

The library downtown was offering a movie and discussion on "Growing up Online" You can find more information and an online version of the documentary at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kidsonline/ It focused mostly on how to be a protective parent in technology without crossing lines of privacy. I think it would be important to show this movie to a parent who is not familar with technology to get them interested and asking questions to their kids about what they are doing online.
It also focused on a why kids and youth are getting online. Many kids feel rejected by their peers, and that they are just a "werido". In turn the internet gives them the knowledge to share their feelings and emotions on the net and connect with others like them.
By joining in on technology with youth, it makes it better to work with your kids than to just ignore that the internet (and text messaging) is just a passing fad.

After the "Growing up Online" movie and discussion, I also worked on doing reference checks for new incoming advisors. The applicants have given three names (references) to contact. My job was to fill out a worksheet, asking 8 questions regarding the applicant. My goal was to get at least one person for each applicant. I got all but 5 done, so I feel that I was very close to achieving my goal.

Tomorrow will be my last day of my internship. I will be going with Mark to see Kevin Gamble of E-Extension, and also get to sit in on a few committee meetings.

Ohio Foundation Presentation

The Ohio 4-H Foundation was "Founded in 1945 as part of The Ohio State University Development Fund, the Ohio 4-H Foundation solicits and receives contributions on behalf of Ohio 4-H in order to enhance the 4-H Youth Development Program and to recognize 4-H members and adult volunteers.
The Ohio 4-H Foundation established an Endowment in 1946 in order to create a permanent investment. With private support from individuals, businesses and organizations, the Ohio 4-H Foundation is able to fund new programs and improve existing programs at the county, district and state levels. Annual program grants are awarded by the Foundation to support innovative programs, meet emerging, local needs or pilot new efforts. In 2003, 163 grants were distributed to county, district and state 4-H programs for a total of $149,600.
The Foundation uses all contributions to benefit the educational efforts of the program. Gifts to the 4-H program support specific program areas, teen and adult leadership education, volunteer programs, member recognition, project clinics, camps, counselor training, teen leader clubs, livestock and non livestock events and much more. "
Taken from http://www.ohio4h.org/foundation/index.html

I was able to observe a presentation done by Mark on Technology and youth today. The presentation was talking about the future of education, the technology gap, and then many different forms of Web 2.0 applications being used today by youth, and adults.
The main purpose of this presentation was education, but it also helped to support the camp counselor online training that the foundation has been funded by the foundation. The response was mostly positive, and I feel that the negativity that came accross was more misunderstanding the ideals, that directly opposing them. I did get to network with a large variety of individuals from around the state of Ohio.
Overall, I feel that education about technology is imperitive to the future of 4-H and other youth organizations. Being able to help people understand how they can be a part of this future is something that I hope I can do more of.

Senior Fairboard

The many boards that make up a successful county fair for Allen County have much to be proud of. I have worked with the Junior Fairboard in a meeting setting twice now, but tonight was the first chance I had to work with the Senior Fairboard. I had met a few of the members through the Farm Discovery Days, and other 4-H events but I was interested to see how their meetings went compared to other Senior Fairboard meetings I have been a part of.
The meeting lasted about an hour, and I felt that it was about as productive as possible. I never really realized until Mark said something that the reason many meetings take as long as they do, is the fact that people don't get to see each other very often, and then usually try to catch up during a monthly meeting with one another. I think this is true often with most organizations. I even see it happen with organizations that meet once a week in college.
I think that the biggest downfall to the meeting was that we were part of an outside circle, and therefore the meeting was quite boring. I think that it would be hard to attend these meetings on a regular basis as a non-member.

Camp Counselors & Baby Chickens

My morning started with a bang today! I recieved a phone call on my way to work about the chicken embryology that I have been doing. Unfortunately the lamp had not been warm enough, and the chick that hatched over the weekend was suffering from labored breathing. I stopped by first thing and changed the bulb to warm up the tank. The chick died just a short while after I left, but luckily the teacher was able to explain to the kids what happenend without them being too upset when I came back in the afternoon. The other eggs are really rolling around the incubator, and I am hoping that we will have more hatching this week.

This evening I was able to sit in on the camp counselor training. Camp is in the beginning of July, so things are really starting to pick up. It was funny to see the split between youth excited about new modules and those not so excited about the online learning modules. We did some teambuilding (I taught them mafia, outlaw style!) they choose menus for the week, and worked on the schedule of events for the week. I think they got quite a bit accomplished, but as usual they were really rowdy (for my liking).

I guess that leads me to my observation for the evening. I have learned that I am not very tolerarant of people who are loud, and distracting. In fact, I think it might be one of my pet peeves. I have discussed with Mark the ways in which to deal with this, and I think that I am coming along very well! I know that dealing with a crowd is part of working with youth, so I'm sure that I will adjust the more I work with groups.

This week I am starting to finish up on lots of projects and housekeeping. Wednesday is Senior Fairboard, and Thursday is the Ohio Foundation Presentation in Columbus. I am very excited to get to sit in on these events, and I hope that I can learn from them!

Strategic Plan Conference

Today was the 2008 Extension Strategic Plan Conference. It was an early morning to get to Columbus in time for it to start. There were approximately 850 Extension professionals and staff present. The morning was spent explaining why and how the strategic plan was important to our future. They also revealed the signature programs of extension. These programs will be expected throughout the state as quality programs that bring results to communities. The afternoon was break out sessions between employees in the same program areas, and then for each county to begin working together to impliment key components of the strategic plan.

The day gave me a quick look at what the future of extension is going to be. For the most part I am excited to see what will happen! I look forward to being a part of this big idea, and helping make it happen!