Hello! This is my third internship with the Ogallala Commons, so I’ll keep my introduction short. My name is Dayna Larreau, and I’m currently a senior at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. I’ll be graduating in May with a degree in Business Administration with an Emphasis in Economics, and I’m so looking forward to it!
During this fall semester, I was fortunate enough to be offered an internship with the Center for Rural Entrepreneurship, which is based out of Lincoln, where I would be able to work from Kearney on a research based project. The Center’s purpose is to empower and support entrepreneurs of communities to help build a prosperous future, and it has an incredibly far reach. My supervisor, Don Macke, and I were able to meet in Lincoln for lunch during early November, and I was able to sit in on one of his E2 webinars. I had also been given the opportunity to attend the Community Capitals Framework Institute that week in Lincoln, so it was a perfect opportunity.
The conference was an amazing opportunity for me; it helped me to gain confidence in my communication skills, my driving skills, and just confidence in myself in general. The intelligence in the room consisting of an estimated 20 people was so incredible, it was almost tangible. I was able to network with a few people that will hopefully be able to help add to my research as well as connect me to opportunities later on in life. I came back inspired and with ideas on how to connect what I had learned in Lincoln with my research. The research I’m working on is meant to act as the building blocks for a future training course intended for both community and business coaches. Before starting the research, I had never come across information on community and business coaching, and my eyes were opened wide after reading the plethora of information. I was even able to use a piece of what I had learned in school this semester for my research. After coming across the term emotional intelligence (also called EQ) in my management class, I was interested in how it could apply to coaching. There was an incredible amount of information relating EQ to coaching, and I hope that this link will help the training materials to be well rounded. I’ll be posting more information on the research and future training course in my final blog! I feel so blessed to have this opportunity to intern during the fall semester, and I’m excited to be a part of the Center and the OC.
During the summer months, I had my dog to keep me company while I worked. Now that I’m back at school, Barry the bunny helps to supervise the research.
The drive to Lincoln for the CCFI was beautiful.
