Day 1

Day one went extremely fast today! As soon as I arrived I was given the tour again of the office to help familarize myself with my new surroundings. The office is very organized, and I am very impressed at how everyone works together to help each other out. I got the chance to meet some of the staff today (mostly in passing). I am very excited to get to know everyone, and see what kind of programs they run in (and for) the county.

As soon as we got done with the mini tour of the office, Mark put me right to work on the computer. I spent the majority of my morning preparing trip applications and scholarship applications for the other two judges and myself. We each had a question sheet, and seperate grading rubrics for each person we were going to interview later on during the afternoon.

Once I got everything organized I had the chance to sit down and do some research for finding "goodies" for the Discovery Farm Days which will be held at the end of April. I contacted The beef council, Ohio Proud, Ohio Pork Producers, the Ohio Poultry Association (and many others) regarding collecting "goodies" for bags to be given to around 800 K-2 graders in the county. The event helps to educate youth about farming, livestock, and what appears to be some food and nutrition features too! I did get one reply on donations, and I'm hoping to get many more soon! I am really excited that Mark is letting me work on this because it provides me a networking opportunity, and the chance to "jump right into things".

During Lunch, I had the chance to start picking Mark's brain about the kind of county I am "working" in. I started asking questions about membership (around 1,000 kids) and clubs (around 64) I was surprised to learn about speciality clubs in not only horses, but woodworking and other specific projects. It was neat to hear about the different types of programs Mark has been working on, like an online camp couselour training. It serves to help train the youth, while supplimenting their normal trainings. He called them modules, and I hope I get the chance to take a look at this training, and try it first hand. The closest thing I can relate it to would be an online class, so I'm wondering if it is setup in the same manner, or different.

After Lunch, myself and two other judges did interviews for Trip Awards and Scholarship Awards. It was nice to meet a lot of the really active youth in the county. The weirdest part is that most of them knew exactly who I was (The "intern") but yet I had no clue who they were. My favorite question for the evening had to be the following, "If you were a hotdog, would you eat yourself, and why?" I've never seen so many nervous kids relax, and just giggle a little. Of course, we asked many difficult questions, regarding past leadership experiences, and problem solving too, but I feel that making the youth comfortable in an interview situation is just as important!

The day started early, and ended late today! We left the office around 7:00pm. I guess that might be a small price to pay for a job I could truly grow to love!

Right now, I'm also brainstorming ideas on how to run the program that resembles mostly an officer training. It is going to be more geared for youth to learn about the offices, and get a feel for what is to be expected of them throughout their leadership role as an officer in 4-H. I'm not really sure what all will end of happening with this program, but I'm sure it will be creative, and innovative!

Tomorrow, I will be meeting with all the different people in my office, and discussing what they do. I'm hoping to learn more about their programs, and what they enjoy the most about their job. I'm sure it'll be a really fun entry tomorrow to talk about all of their experiences. I also hope to get more responses on donations for the Discovery Farm Days!