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Internship Summary- Blog 5

Hi, everyone, this is my blast blog. As I am writing this, I am thinking about how hard it is going to be to put everything I did and experienced into words, but I am going to give it my best shot. I have had so many great things happen through this internship but a few of my main projects and highlights were the Community Garden, the 4-H Camps, the Low Impact Exercise Class, the Summer Library Program, my Community Service and so much more. One of my main projects was the Community Garden and I know I touched on it in previous blogs so I will not go as into depth. I worked in the Community Garden every day if not in Silverton, then in Memphis. I have learned what I believe to be a very valuable lesson not only in how to plant and grow a garden, but that hard work pays off. I also had challenges too like some of the plants dying or not producing. Another project was the Summer Library Program where I helped plan, set up, and lead the program which consists of reading two to three books then making a snack, craft, and playing a game that coordinates with the books. My challenges and success went hand in hand with this project. I have always been able to better communicate with my younger peers which made this project easier for me, but I also want to be able to set a strong role model example for them, so I worked on how to present myself in a way that set an example for all. One of my hardest projects was the Low Impact Exercise Class even though it does not sound like a challenge, but it was not the project itself but the people I was with. This project is focused on the elderly in my community who are the people I look up to most and the ones who encourage me and expect the best. I have been around these people my whole life and was so worried that I was going to disappoint them in some way. Which lead me to focus on not disappointing them instead of being myself which is all they wanted me to do. After I can to this realization, I could focus more on what I was doing and being myself, which helped me in my other projects knowing that all that was expected from me was to be myself. The next project was 4-H Camps which I have always enjoyed attending so it was a wonderful experience for me to be on the opposite end of things. I got to learn about all the hard work that the leaders put into these camps and how much work it takes to put the camps on. Not only do I understand the difficulty I can now appreciate it differently than before. I feel like I got a lot out of these camps especially being a group leader. While I was a group leader, I got to see how much fun and the experience the kids were having. The last thing I want to touch on is my community service although I have written a blog dedicated to it, it is one of the most impactful things, I have received from this internship. My community service projects were not different than what I have done in the past I just saw it from a different perspective. I have learned so much about my community through the eyes of Ogallala Commons. For example, I have found so many Commonwealth Assets in my community that I never thought we had. My community service not only benefited my community it also benefited me in a way I cannot describe. This was one of the most amazing opportunities I have had, and I would not take back any of it. Not only did I grow as I person I think that this has helped my community grow towards something new and exciting. I did not formally set goals for myself I just had a thought of what I wanted to achieve. I wanted to complete my internship to the best of my ability, I wanted to grow more confident in myself, and help my community to do better. I not only think that I achieved these on a personal level I think that these goals made others realize the good that comes from programs like Ogallala Commons. I can tell a difference in my self-confidence already just by the way I presented my harvest ceremony this week. Not only have I noticed this change so have others in my community and I plan to better the skills I learned and improving my confidence further rather it being through future Ogallala Commons opportunities or just everyday life.

These are some photos from the last few weeks of my intership which I spent mostly doing all kinds of things for our Briscoe County Celebration. Which I did not mention in this blog because it would have taken up this whole blog then some.