As a part of the Ogallala Commons Internship each intern is required to complete 10 hours of community service in addition to their total working hours. Due to my internship being through the City, it was really simple to find a place to put in these hours. While I spent a majority of my time with the Recreation Department, I still had plenty of opportunities to lend a helping hand around town.
I got a jump start on community service by helping with Vacation Bible School at my church where I helped conduct a crafts station for the kids. I also got to spend quite a bit of time helping with the Phillips County Family and Education Services camp. This was such a fun experience to help keep kids entertained with a handful of activities throughout the day. I then managed to spend a few more of my community service hours with kids at a 4-H camp. During my time helping, the kids learned about some history at the local museum, learned about cooking and nutrition, and also learned fishing and archery skills as well. To wrap up my hours of community service I helped in the community concession stands at the county fair. This was the first year these concession stands have been run as a community. It was very cool to see various faces from around the community come together for this service.
As so many opportunities to help were made available to me, the challenging part was juggling everything and communicating where and when I would be helping. It could also get somewhat challenging to adjust to always working with different people in different areas. Although it could be challenging at times, these experiences impacted me in such a huge way. They gave me the opportunities to network, get involved, and learn so much about my community all while being a part of the help the community was seeking.
