Final Day of the Internship

Today is the last day of my internship. What a busy summer it has been! Summer camp, 4-H State Congress, the Albemarle County Fair, workshops, Main Street Ag Day meetings...the list goes on and on. I have had the opportunity  to meet so many wonderful people this summer! Whether it was community projects, summer camp, the fair, or summer workshops, I was able to meet so many wonderful children and adults in Charlottesville/Albemarle. I have learned more about 4-H from the adult side of events instead of the youth side. I spent years in 4-H and was very involved in different clubs and events however when you are the one planning, buying supplies for, and running an event it is VERY different than being the participant. I was lucky enough to have help from many awesome people around the office. Karrin has helped me with so much this summer and I have learned a lot just from watching what all she does. Whether it is just learning from her organizational skills or figuring out that all camp preparation can be completed 3 days before summer camp begins...I have learned what all a 4-H agent does during the summer and how passionate an agent has to be about 4-H to devote almost all their time to 4-H. I'm sure this school year will be just as great as the summer was!
I have been lucky enough to have another intern around the office this summer which was a lot of fun! Morgan was the FCS/ANR intern and we had the opportunity to work together for a few projects this summer and I had a lot of fun getting to know her!
This summer I really enjoyed working in the office with Nancy, Ian, Cat, Kathy, Karrin, Carrie, Alicia, Ellie, and the many master gardeners that came in each week. Not only was I able to see how an extension office runs, I was able to see people work together to make every event possible. The diverse topics that Virginia Cooperative Extension offers knowledge, help, and advice in is amazing and VCE is such an awesome resource to have statewide. I did an internship last summer with VCE in Greene County and between the two summers I have spent involved in 4-H I have realized how rewarding being a 4-H agent can be. Sure, it is stressful at times, but the number of children's lives you impact and help learn about farming, nutrition, life skills, public speaking, and so much more is awesome. Children look up to 4-H agents and I can't wait to see if one day I will have to opportunity to become a 4-H agent and impact children's lives just as I've seen every other 4-H agent do. This summer has been AWESOME! :)

Most of our awesome office staff! :)

Recycled Arts and Crafts Workshop for 9-13 Year Olds

Today we had another recycled arts and crafts workshops scheduled, but we had a low number of people sign up and ended up not having anyone show up for it. I had planned some pretty cool activities for it, one of which was turning an old t-shirt into a cool little bag. Since plans changed, I had time to do a few other things that I need to get done before my internship is over, which is in a few days. Morgan, the other intern and I updated the 4-H bulletin board and took some old pictures off the wall. I also cleaned out the cabinet that I had organized at the beginning of the internship and destroyed throughout the summer as I grabbed stuff for workshops out of it. It was a pretty relaxing but a productive day!

Albemarle County Fair 2014

The Albemarle County Fair has come and gone! So much planning, so many contacts, so much organizing...but the fair went SO well! I was very impressed with how smoothly the whole 3 days of the fair went! We set up cages and the ring and pens on Wednesday, animals and people arrived Thursday, then Thursday evening, Friday, and Saturday were spent having fun, showing animals, selling animals, riding rides, and eating at the fair! All the 4-Hers who showed animals did a GREAT job and were all very excited to receive ribbons for their projects. We had some awesome judges, good lookin' animals, and great people in our 4-H exhibit tent all weekend! We had a large number of animals including poultry, rabbits, lambs, hogs, goats, and a steer. All did well in the show and those who sold did great in the sale! I am from Rockingham County so seeing the difference in the show and sale between Rockingham and Albemarle was fun. Sale prices here are AWESOME! I am so excited for the opportunities these buyers are giving the 4-Hers they support. Dakota Pullaro surpassed his goal of reaching $50,000 from selling animals at the Albemarle County Fair over the last 11 years. That blew me away! What an awesome goal to meet! Many other 4-Hers found success in the sale this year as well. Thank you buyers! You are making a difference in the lives of these 4-Hers! Each 4-H member who was showing also received a feed bucket, water bottle, shirt, and 4-H decal thanks to fundraisers, donations, and local businesses and support. I feel like the fair was a success overall and everyone had fun! I will definitely be back next year to see how the fair goes! I am happy I got to be a part of the behind the scenes work and effort that went into planning the fair!

Check back for pictures! :)

Cloverbud Recycled Arts and Crafts Workshop

On Tuesday, July 29th, I hosted a recycled arts and crafts workshop for cloverbuds at the extension office. We had 6 cloverbuds show up and had a great workshop! We made rock pets, puppets, a button clover, straw necklaces, and more! We all had a lot of fun and enjoyed the 6 hour workshop. After lunch we went outside and played Simon Says for a little while to get rid of some of our energy then went inside and got back to work. Each child got to take home multiple crafts they made and even put on a puppet show for their parents before they left.