Ogallala Commons Intern

Cynthia Buster - Introduction

2011-12-15T09:00:00.005-06:00

Hi! My name is Cynthia Buster and I live in Lubbock, Texas, with my husband, David, and our pets, Norman, a dachshund, and Klondike, a guinea pig. I grew up in Fort Worth and completed my Bachelor’s degree in History with Secondary Education Certification from Tarleton State University in Stephenville, about 65 miles southwest of D/FW, in May 2010.

I knew I wanted to live on the South Plains the first time I laid eyes on it in 2007. My husband and I had just started dating and he had recently graduated from Texas Tech and wanted to come back over spring break that year to visit friends. I immediately fell in love with the endless cotton fields, the Caprock, and the bluest sky and prettiest sunsets I had ever seen. The summer after graduation, I was accepted at Texas Tech University to work on my Master of Science in Heritage Management. I will be graduating in August 2012.

I am currently an Ogallala Commons Community Intern working in Nazareth, Texas, producing the exhibit about the village’s veterans and their service to their country, community, and families for their annual German Festival in July 2012. I am currently in the process of recording oral histories of veterans of various wars and peace time, ranging from World War II to the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, with a colleague in the Heritage Management program, Emily Purcell, and my advisor, Dr. Hyojung Cho. These stories are integral to the exhibit and are important for the community since these are their stories and are worth remembering. Without these recordings, the stories will be lost to history. After completing the oral histories, I will be digitizing them in preparation for eventual donation at the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library at Texas Tech.

I’m looking forward to continuing my work with the community, where I have been more than welcomed as a part of their small town. I am very fortunate for the opportunity that everyone at Ogallala Commons and the community of Nazareth, Texas, have given me to gain valuable experience in the field of Heritage Management prior to graduation.

Teresa Gonzales - Final Blog

2011-11-11T15:40:00.001-06:00

As this internship comes to a close, I can say that this was a very rewarding experience that comes once in a lifetime. It was a positive and focused environment and the people were great to work with. My journey began after meeting the Ogallala Commons teaching team at Oak Grove Elementary in Brownfield, Texas in November 2010. I was very impressed by the presentation but intrigued by how powerful the day was mainly due to great planning and "partnering" with the Terry County Extension agent and the South Plains UWCD. Schools welcome guest speakers but it is rare to have the opportunity not only to learn the crucial lessons at hand (importance of water conservation and playas) but to give the students an opportunity to apply their new found knowledge and then extend on that knowledge through the outdoor experience. In a visit to a local playa, students are encouraged to ask questions about the natural world around them and how it applies to our community. Students were excited about learning and I was amazed at the knowledge acquired by the students in one short day. I believe that "partnering" made all the difference. I knew that day that I needed to know more about Ogallala Commons and their vision statement. I was then invited to attend a teacher training/land owner meeting in January 2011. Again, I left feeling like I needed to learn more about Ogallala Commons and how it applies to me. Later, I attended a meeting in Abernathy where I met a special group of people who supervise interns. This is a dedicated group of professionals who have a passion for community involvement and understand the impact that mentoring makes. It was at this meeting that I got a better, more clear understanding of how broad the vision statement is. The goal is to inspire our youth to get an education and return in the future to work and live in their own community. We need to retain our talent and promote our area for future generations. This can and will happen when we allow students to start thinking early about the endless possibilities our own communities hold. It was about this time that I realized everything is interconnected and most likely a slow process. This is also where I met Martha Kunkel, Director of Grants and Resource Development in Odessa, Texas. Martha is a super lady and an important contact as she agreed to assist me when I expressed an interest in the grant writing process. Finally in June I attended the intern orientation in Nazareth, Texas. This two-day training gives interns and supervisors an opportunity to meet, discuss, and fellowship with other interns. It included a bus tour of the Caprock where we met new people in new places along the way. (Silverton, Texas is an amazing place to visit.) My internship was scheduled to begin in the Fall with Darryl Birkenfeld , Executive Director of Ogallala Commons and Julie Hodges, Education Director as my mentors. Our goal is to reach 24 schools and 1500 students in learning about High Plains water thru science, creative writing, art and history. The teaching sessions were well planned by our education director. We had four rotating groups including a visit to a local playa for the outdoor experience. I had the honor of making presentations and was also responsible for our blogs. I also participated in the fifth annual "Youth Engagement Day" in Plainview, Texas. "Growing Entrepreneurs Building Businesses" was the focus of this event. This was time well-spent for tomorrow's community,state, and county leaders. These students were challenged to ponder ideas based on real-life business owners' success stories. I was impressed with the number of city officials and business owners who came together to make a positive impact on their youth. The students were welcomed by Mayor John Anderson who was pleased to have us come and explore ideas with local business owners. After our keynote address given by M.C. Montelongo, students were divided into investigations teams and conducted interviews at assigned businesses. I was very impressed with Perry Collins who bought a historical marker building and transformed it into a building that better fits today's needs. The students of Plainview and Hart, Texas were then challenged to identify their community's needs and develop a business plan to enter in the Youth Entrepreneur Fair in November. With the top prize of $1,000, the students understand that Ogallala Commons and other sponsors are working diligently to create opportunities for all to succeed. Partnering makes all the difference in making an impact on today's youth. I watched as city officials, educators, professionals, business owners and mentors came together to make a positive difference in the lives of students on the High Plains.

Teresa Gonzales - Barry Playa Festival

2011-10-24T15:13:00.000-05:00

Barry Elemenatry in Clovis, New Mexico was a great place to visit and a super place to teach! We were greeted by Ms. Mohaughton, Ms. May, Ms. Burnett, and 36 eager fifth graders who accompanied us in a day of learning and great adventure. These eductors are enthusiastic and excited about our program of teaching through hands-on activities and outdoor learning. We began our journey in the Barry Elementary Library where Julie Hodges, our Education Director, introduced the day with a visual presentation on what playas are, where they come from and why they are important followed by a presentation on nature journals and their value, presented by Teresa Gonzales, Educator and OC Intern. After a brief investigation of soils and their differences, we proceeded our rotating groups of Jim Steiret, waterfowler and author, Robert Martin, from the Nature Consercancy in Clovis, New Mexico and Joe Whitehead with the NRCS in Clovis, New Mexico. Each bringing vital information for a clear understanding of the importance of preserving our natural resources.
Jim Steiret demonstrates the importance of lake buffers and how they help preserve playas. He checks for student understanding and challenges them to explain ratio to him in relation to playa buffers. The water fowl demonstration was a big hit, as usual, identifying birds by their markings and color. He informed the students that it will require a quiet approach to get close enough to get a good look at the wildlife upon arriving at our designated playa (the first one I have seen this year with water in it ...awesome!). Robert Martin brings yet another layer of excitement to learning by sharing his reptiles and amphibians! He was assisted by Tish Stewart, an upcoming OC Intern. Robet and Tish shared toad, frogs snakes and the all-time favorite, Ms. McLuven, Robert's personal snapping turtle! Students were amazed and full of questions. Joe Whitehead from NRCS in Clovis uses humor and music for his presentation. Topics covered are the Ogallala Aquifer and watersheds. The students participated as he brought his presentation to life using music. I loved his "Jewels of the Plains" and his "Water Song." The message that Mr. Whitehead delivers is that our playas are necessary but suffering due to roads, farming techniques, and the lack of awareness that our society has about our natural world. In Mr. Whitehead's words, "Take care of what we have, now that we know." He made a believer out of me! With their curisosity level at a pretty high level, we proceeded to a local playa. To my surprise, this playa was well preserved by the community and was a place where people actually visit and enjoy. There are posted signs for the walking trail which is very nice and allows a wonderful view of nature and wildlife (really peaceful). The trail measured one and one-eighth miles. I observed at least ten walkers in the short time we were there. None seemed intimidated by the school bus and 36 excited fifth-graders! They just kept coming! This is a true example of what more communities should be doing with our precious playas.

New Brochure and RSVPs for Partnering meetings

2011-10-18T16:03:00.002-05:00

A new Ogallala Commons brochure is being cooked up that includes updated information about the Community Internships and the interns themselves, as well as new photos.

Also, a reminder that if you are planning to attend either of the upcoming Partnering meetings on November 3rd and December 6th that you need to RSVP with Julie Hodges (juliehodges@prairieworkshop.com)

Intern Profiles and Community Partnering Meetings

2011-10-12T14:54:00.004-05:00

Hey folks

Some new things are cookin' up with the Ogallala Commons:

First off, up until now the Ogallala Commons website (ogallalacommons.org) has had a limited amount of information to offer concerning the individuals involved in the Community Internships. However, soon there will be links on the website that will lead to each intern's profile so that anyone who is interested in the Ogallala Commons Community Internships will have first-hand information readily available.

The second bit of information is a reminder about the Community Partnering Meetings coming up on November 3rd and December 6th - more information will be made available as the dates draw near

Teresa Gonzales Introduction to Blog

2011-09-18T18:30:00.000-05:00

Please allow me to introduce myself and share my story with you. My name is Teresa Gonzales, an educator by heart and a life-long learner. I was born and raised in Brownfield, Texas; a small town about 35 miles south of Lubbock, Texas. I married my high school sweetheart my junior year in high school and had three beautiful children. After my children all reached school-age, I worked full-time as an educational secretary and attended night classes to earn my Bachelor of Science degree and later a Master of Education in Elementary Education/Curriculum and Instruction from Texas Tech University. I have 21 years of experience in public education and a year of administrative experience as Assistant Director of Education for Texas Careers of Lubbock. While I have not retired from public education, I am exploring other career opportunities.
This internship will provide knowledge and experience in community education, youth engagement, and water education for elementary students. In the process, I will have an opportunity to build community relations and add some great contacts to my networking base. Dr. Darryl Birkenfeld and Julie Hodges will be my mentors in the intern process; I hope to gain insight on their personal approach to instilling hope and perseverance in today's youth. My internship will consist of making presentations at the Playa Festivals, assist with the work involved in the festivals, and make sure that educators are aware of the resources available to them as follow-up activities via the playa trunk developed by Julie Hodges.
In conclusion, I would like to share that I am a personable professional whose strength includes cultural sensitivity and an ability to build rapport in diverse multicultural settings. There is much to learn and I am honored to have been accepted for this internship.

The importance of program evaluation to organizations and me

2011-07-22T16:10:00.004-05:00

By way of quick introduction, my name is Jennifer Zavaleta and I am a graduate student in the Natural Resource Department at Texas Tech. I was asked to write about the importance of program evaluation and how program evaluation fits in with my future plans after graduation.

My first semester with Ogallala Commons has been a learning and meaningful experience. At the beginning of this internship I was a little unsure of my skills in terms of developing surveys and analyzing their results. However, I have been learning through an independent study with Dr. Todd Brashears in the Agricultural Education Department and now feel much more confidant. In return for helping me with program evaluation for Ogallala Commons, I have worked with him on analyzing surveys, which compare the knowledge and attitudes of meat possessing managers at private and state-operated plants. While the subject matter greatly differs from that which I measured with Ogallala Commons, one fact remains: Program evaluations are essential for program development. Program evaluation is important because it highlights unobvious assumptions, indicates where lessons may need to be bolstered, and provides hard numbers and evidence that an organization is making a difference.

While interning with Ogallala Commons I developed four different surveys for four demographics Ogallala Commons works closely with. This includes landowners who attend management days, teachers who attend playa festival training day, students currently partaking in playa festivals, and former playa festival attendees. Each survey measured knowledge, attitudes and behaviors before and after Ogallala Common’s programming. I have only had the opportunity to analyze the data from the prescribed grazing management day.

The results were, at times, surprising and seemingly contradictory. For example, landowners claimed that management decisions were not primarily driven by economic concerns. However, they were not willing to implement prescribed grazing for financial reasons. After learning this information, I suggested that staff at Ogallala Commons add specific information on the economic advantages of prescribed grazing to better encourage behavioral change. The information I collected helped staff at Ogallala Commons adjust curriculum to better meet the needs of its intended audience, better allocate limited funding, and present hard-data to their board of directors.

The theme of unexpected results is not limited to my experience with Ogallala Commons. Dr. Brashears and I have collected and analyzed data related to organizational climate and culture of meat packing plants in central Mexico. We found that while knowledge-based education is important to improved food safety, it is not sufficient for successful implementation of safety directives. We determined that management’s attitude toward the food safety and work-culture of the plant influenced quality of processed meat. This information changed food safety curriculum. Instead of solely focusing on food safety procedures, now education also includes the importance of food safety and appeals to changing people’s attitude toward safety issues. This small yet meaningful change in curriculum is a significant step toward improving meat quality such that it may be possible to trade with the United States, a goal of Mexican meat production.

Not only are program evaluations valuable because they can show surprising results, they also provide hard numbers as opposed to impressions that people have understood the educational materials and will change their behavior. In our survey to landowners we were able to prove people gained knowledge from management days by asking content-based questions. We were also able to measure that people planned on changing their behavior based on their interactions with Ogallala Commons. The survey asked participants what their behaviors were before the management day and what they hoped to do after. There was a significant intent to change in terms of implementing prescribed grazing, identifying plants on their playa, and providing an adequate buffer zone around their playa. This information demonstrates that Ogallala Commons is having a significant impact in the community. This is powerful information when writing grants and impressive to share with a board of directors. I look forward to analyzing more surveys related to playa festivals once the school year starts.

The program evaluation that I have participated in while working with Ogallala Commons and Dr. Brashears has motivated me to apply for a Fulbright to work in Chile. Chile’s Long Term Socio Economic Research Program has started to link scientists from different universities, field stations, and private industries as well as community members and politicians. This network has the potential to drastically improve collaboration efforts throughout Chile. I would love to be granted the opportunity to work with the LTSER network and help them measure how effective their current efforts are on spreading awareness of the organization and make suggestions for how to improve recognition and collaboration of the network. I will have the opportunity to meet the directors of this program when I attend the Ecological Society of America meeting in Austin this August. I look forward to learning more about the LTSER program and how I can contribute to its success.

News from the OC 3

2011-06-30T13:25:00.005-05:00

Intern Profile: Elisa Elizondo

My name is Elisa Elizondo, I'm 20, and I have finally decided that I will transfer to Prescott College in Arizona in the fall as a junior. I lived in Fort Worth all my life up to now and went to TCU for two years. Home used to be all the way at the end University Drive and now it's far, far away and about to get farther.

My internship is in Amarillo, TX at the Wesley Community Center and the Maverick Boys and Girls Club. Both aim to establish community gardens that will provide food for the people they serve. Wesley serves as a place where people (mostly children and the elderly) come to learn and have fun. The Maverick Club serves only children and is pretty much the same thing on a larger scale.

Most of the volunteers I work with are in 4th, 5th, and 6th grade and they absolutely love being out in the garden and learning about it. At this point both gardens only grow annual vegetables, but in addition to caring for it (not an easy job with all this wind!), my job is to ensure more perennial and long term edible shrubs, rain catchment, and composting, and community support are in place to sustain the garden when I leave.

Intern Profile: Tara Fox

My name is Tara Fox and I am serving in my community of Plainview, Texas this summer. I have been living in Plainview for almost 7 years now. I have completed my undergrad as well as my master’s degree at Wayland Baptist University. This summer I am taking on the task of creating a financial banking and education curriculum geared towards lower income and unbanked individuals and families in the community. The end goal is to provide information and education to break the poverty cycle in families to give future generations a chance at something better.

We are also working on beginning an IDA (Individual Development Accounts) program for women who are or have been in a domestic family violence situation. By providing a program that will not only assist them in meeting a goal, whether that be owning a home, going back to school or starting a business; but also teach them how to make a budget and stick to it; we are taking away a piece of power and control that this family has been under. Economic abuse is one of the main reasons why women stay in abusive relationships for as long as they do. Most of these women were never allowed to work, or never able to so teaching them some basics is exactly what they need.

I believe in this project and am so honored to be a part of this opportunity to change families’ lives not only right now but for future generations as well.

Intern Profile: Larissa Gardner

Hello,
I'm Larissa Gardner, an Ogallala Intern working in Nazareth, TX. I live in Amarillo and have two daughters (12 and 19) who live very nearby, so I can see them as often as I want to. My parents grew up in Happy, Texas, and I spent summers in the Texas Panhandle helping my grandfather on his farm. What I really love about the program is the opportunity to work in my field before I graduate with my Masters' Degree. I feel very lucky!

My main project is an exhibit entitled “A Woman's Touch.” It celebrates the Benedictine Sisters who taught in Nazareth from the early 1900s until 1990 as well as the Sisters who received vocations and left Nazareth for the St. Scholastica Monastery in Arkansas. I've done research on the History of Nazareth and the History of Supreme Court decisions on Separation between Church and State. I've also interviewed Sisters who are still in the area and have gathered stories from many of those they taught! The exhibit is planned for seven panels and will be presented at the Nazareth German Sausage Festival on July 9th.

Other portions of my internship center around the Cemetery's Oratory Index and map as well as production of an exhibit book for “A Woman's Touch” and “Pioneer Pastors” exhibits to be used on future displays as a takeaway. I am also following up this summer on work I did last summer to help get the Holy Family Cemetery designated as a Historical Site so they can get a Historical Marker.

News from the OC 2

2011-06-30T13:25:00.004-05:00

Color Us Blue (as in Caring)!
Fr. Ken Keller, OC Intern Supervisor

As an overall group, the 2011 Ogallala Commons Community Interns are compassionate! At least that is what a summary of the “Colors Test” indicated when the individual results were tabulated together as a group.

Recall from your Intern Orientation a few weeks ago, that a Personality Quiz called “True Colors” was taken by the Interns and 22 returned their results for a collective look at their “intern-ablity”. In this particular personality assessment tool, those whose primary color is Blue are compassionate, while Oranges are courageous, Greens are conceptual, and Golds are detail-oriented.

Not enough information came in to attempt to answer fully the question “What personality type is most common in a Community Intern?” However, 2011 Interns whose primary personality color is Blue are more noticeable (37% in the group rank it as their primary color), while the group’s other three personality colors are equally placed at 21% each. Nationally, when one looks at an average for all groups, each color shows up at a 25% occurrence in a group.

When one looks at the collective results, from intern’s most-to-least ranking of colors, one can picture a “bell curve” type of perspective on color. Thus, for the highest color – Blue -- 9 rank it first while 5 rank it last. For the lowest color – Gold – 5 rank it first while 8 rank it least. Green and Orange seem to be the balancing factors for our group.

However, the True Colors test helps interns not only by understanding their strengths, but also their weaknesses. When consideration is give to the last place ranking of a color, 36 percent of our 2011 Interns listed Gold as their least color. This can indicate that our interns are not as “practical”, “managerial”, or “detail- oriented” as the average group of persons.

In summary, here are some generalizations about our 2011 Interns as a group (not each individual). They are caring with a strong desire to make a contribution to society and help others. They are enthusiastic, communicative, and sympathetic.

A side of their “group personality” that might be worked on more during their internships would be: maintaining a schedule, doing more organizing, and making efforts to leave their community or organization in August with more established and practical solutions. Thus, the True Colors Personality Assessment gives us another level of insight into the gifts offered and the challenges faced by Community Interns.

Learning About Natural Resources...Attend Field Days
Across the Great Plains region, interns, supervisors, and interested citizens can learn more about our natural resources by attending a Field Day. Throughout this summer, on any given week or weekend, an agency or group of organizations is conducting some sort of Field Day. These events usually occur in the morning and end with lunch. It's a great opportunity to get outdoors and learn about wildlife, plants, water, and soils in a hands-on way, with the instruction of local experts. Remember, stewarding natural resources is one of the key skills for a Community Intern, and attending a Field Day may be your best chance to engage in this work. Upland Field Day at Dimmitt Unit of the Playa Lakes WMA in Castro County on Saturday, June 25th from 9:00 a.m. to noon.

Down in the Texas Panhandle, there are two Field Days coming up. There will be an Upland Field Day at the Dimmitt Unit of the Playa Lakes WMA, 4 miles west of Dimmitt, TX in Castro County on Saturday, June 25th from 9:00 a.m. to noon. This event is free and everyone is invited, but they would like folks to RSVP (in order to have plenty of bottled water and information packets on hand that day). We would love to have as many hunters, landowners, and youth as possible (boys and girls…the future of land and wildlife in our states). Another outdoor event will be held on Saturday, July 9th, with a Playa Field Tour at the Playa Classroom in Nazareth, TX from 8:30am-11am. You can learn about amphibians, playa plants, birds, and soils at this gathering. When it is over, you can attend the Nazareth German Festival, and enjoy a delicious German sausage dinner for $10 per person. If you are interested in either Field Day, please contact Darryl Birkenfeld (806-945-2255).

Intern Profile: Karen Bone
Hi all,
I am originally from South Texas, went to Sam Houston State University in East Texas, and currently live and work in West Texas. All this moving has made me appreciate the diversity and size of our state, and I like to joke that I have lived in 3 different states since the regions all have their own particular personality and the distance between them is so large. It takes me a good eight hours to visit where I grew up. In my spare time I read a lot of nonfiction, run a discussion group called Feminist of Lubbock, hike and bike with my partner, and play fetch with my extremely energetic two year old lab.

For my internship I am currently working at Sherry Pullen’s organic farm and, later in the summer, I will be teaching kids a little about food and nutrition. So far I’ve learned about picking vegetables, hoeing, laying down mulch, making organic pesticides, and maintaining moisture in the garden. I’m looking forward to learning more about butchering chickens, planting, putting the implements on the tractor and driving it, and picking fruit in the orchard, to name a few. It’s been interesting because while we have a rough work plan in place, so much of the work is dictated by the weather conditions and nature in general. My favorite activity thus far has been picking the vegetables, especially the root ones like beets, radishes, and onions.

Intern Profile: Savanna Bragg
Hey! I’m Savanna Bragg. I am 17 years old, and just recently graduated from Tulia High School this May. In the fall I will attend the University of North Texas in Denton in pursuit of a minor in Photojournalism and my degree in Public Relations or Marketing. I am passionate about photography, I actually own my own photography business, SavannaBPhotography. You can check out my website at savannabragg.smugmug.com. My other interests include running cross country, working out, motocross, journalism, traveling, and meeting new people. I am a very social person, and an entrepreneur, but I am probably also one of the biggest procrastinators you will ever meet.

This summer I am interning under Patsy Hooten, who is the owner and editor of the Swisher County News. Most of my internship will be working here at the newspaper office, but I will also be working with the high school cross country team. I will be helping with the Jr. High and High School Cross Country training/camps throughout the summer. I have been part of the student newspaper, The Sting, for two years now. This past school year I was student editor, which led me to being interested in fulfilling my internship at the newspaper office. Throughout the internship I will be writing weekly articles, taking photos, editing articles, and putting the newspaper together on Adobe InDesign. Last year was my first year to work for Ogallala Commons, and I am very thankful for the opportunity to be an intern this year as well. I am a bit of a city girl, but my internships have drawn me to appreciate the rural community assets.

Intern Profile: Samantha Carter
My name is Samantha Carter. I am a transplant here in Tucumcari, New Mexico. I moved here about two years ago and I plan on being here at least one more year. Currently, I am a student at Mesaland’s Community College and am doing an internship at the Tucumcari, Historical Museum for nine weeks of this summer.

During my internship at the museum I will be getting the chance to catalog as many of the items in the museum that I can get done. First I had to help design a system in order to catalog all the different artifacts properly without doubling up on the items, confusing the numbering system, or losing any of the important information that is part of the history of all the artifacts.

The Museum is a great place to intern at. I am really enjoying all the people that come in and the different stories I am privileged to hear. The other day I met a military boy who was traveling through New Mexico on his temporary leave because his best friend in the Army always told him about how great New Mexico really is. His friend died tragically in the military tank right in front of his vehicle during their last mission. The boy who died had no family so his friend had brought the remains of his things to the museum to donate in his memory. The boy’s boots, knife, and military papers were all that there was to show he even existed and gave all he had for this country. It was heartwarming and heart breaking all in the same emotion. I am truly lucky to have this experience.

News from the OC

2011-06-30T13:24:00.001-05:00

Tools of Your Internship: How to use the Work Plan & Time Sheet
By Darryl Birkenfeld, Director, Ogallala Commons

Now that your internship is off to a great start, interns and supervisors might wonder, “What is the purpose of the work plan?” Even though interns have hit the ground running with 3 or 4 projects, the work plan is still a handy tool—something that you want to take a look at least once a week for the following reasons.

First of all, your work plan should list a weekly schedule of activities from now until the end of your internship. It’s a reminder that what you are working on is not a sprint, but an 8-9 week marathon. Some activities will require a day or two to complete, but your main internship objectives need more time and planning to bring them to completion. Having a work plan will help you to divide up a big objective into weekly increments, so that by the end of your internship, you will have done enough work to wrap it up.

In addition, the work plan offers a way for you and your advisor to check in on the status of projects and activities—to discuss these projects and to make adjustments. It may happen that a task listed on your work plan can’t be completed in the week when it is written down. Reviewing the work plan allows you to move the activities to different weeks. Also, sometimes projects are finished sooner than planned, and once again, you can fill in your internship week with tasks that are listed further down the schedule on your work plan, so that you make effective use of your internship hours.

So this week, take time to look over your work plan with your supervisor, and use the plan as a gauge for what has been accomplished in your internship, and a planning guide as to how to proceed over the coming weeks.

Now, here are a few reminders on your time sheet. First of all, be sure to write down your internship hours and work description on a weekly basis. If you wait until the end of the third week when the first timesheet is due to send in for your stipend check, it will be very difficult to remember what you did in the first and second week. So again, start keeping your timesheet now, following the sample that is available in the Intern Guidebook. Also, you are to submit your timesheet on the Friday of your third and six week of internship (unless you are doing a 4-week internship), and the third timesheet when you have completed all the products required at the end of your internship. Finally, you will need to allow 8-12 days for your timesheet to be processed and to receive your stipend checks.

And the Blogging has Begun…
Julie Hodges, Education Coordinator, Ogallala Commons

Most of the 33 OC Community Interns posted their introductory blog on Friday, June 10th, providing great photographs and a nice introduction to themselves and the various projects they are working on.

Ogallala Commons would like to invite anyone interested in learning about grassroots community projects ranging from food bank gardens to hosting 800 bicyclists in Kansas to check out our intern blogs and leave comments to encourage, advise or ask questions of an Intern.
This year we have 6 OC Community Intern Blogs. They can be found at:
http://ogallalaintern1.blogspot.com/
http://ogallalaintern2.blogspot.com/
http://ogallalaintern3.blogspot.com/
http://ogallalaintern4.blogspot.com/
http://ogallalaintern5.blogspot.com/
http://ogallalaintern6.blogspot.com/

To leave a comment for an intern, simply click on the word “comments” at the bottom of the post you wish to comment on. A “Post a Comment” Box will appear for you to leave a message in. Once you finish writing your message, you must choose and option from the “Comment as” drop down menu located just below the “Post a Comment” box. If you do not have a profile, simply choose “anonymous” If you choose anonymous, you may want to include your name in the text you have written so the intern will know you are.

Intern Profile: High School Experiences Provide Background for Internship
By Catherine Jenkinson, Community Intern

This summer, I will be working for Ogallala Commons through my local community foundation. I will be working on fundraising, mailing lists, research, planning a community Christmas party, and starting an oral history project dealing with coyote hunting. Coyote hunting was a 'sport' very popular in the sixties and seventies in rural Kansas. 'Hunters' attached special boxes to old pick-ups to hold their greyhounds trained to track coyotes. When a coyote was spotted, a lever inside the truck was cranked, allowing the greyhounds to attack. Though this is widely known in my community, no one has ever documented its history or interviewed the 'hunters' themselves.
I am very excited for what I will learn this summer and I'm sure that my eyes will be opened to a huge amount of possibilities and opportunities. In my school, I am involved in several leadership organizations including 4H, Peer Helpers, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Teen Leaders, Wallace County High School Leadership Team, National Honor Society and Student Council. I hope that my experience with working with others has prepared me to intern in this job well. I look forward to a great summer full of great opportunity!

Ogallala Commons Internships Benefitting Greeley County
Christy Hopkins, Director, Greeley County Community Development

Above: Greeley County interns at their finest during the Bike Across Kansas stop in Tribune

Greeley County Community Development is fortunate to host two Ogallala Commons Interns this summer. Shancee Howell, an agri-business graduate student at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, New Mexico, returned for a second-year internship. She has been joined by Katy Reynolds, a mass communications major completing her undergraduate degree at Northwestern Oklahoma State University in Alva, Oklahoma.

The foundation of the Ogallala Commons internship program is engagement in the local community. While no two internships are the same, each is focused on providing the interns with a deeper understanding and appreciation for their community and the assets that make it a special place. Undoubtedly, Shancee and Katy (and all other Ogallala Commons interns) will end their internships with a greater understanding of their local communities and the hands, hearts, and minds that make it work.

Katy and Shancee bring intelligence, drive, and a fresh perspective to our community. They tackle projects with energy and enthusiasm, whether it’s setting up a lemonade stand at the Biking Across Kansas event, introducing trivia on the Facebook page, designing a community brochure, assisting with the adult co-ed softball league, brainstorming interior décor for Tribune’s community-owned theater, or scoping out ideas for a complete website re-design. Our office is enhanced by their talents and passion; the community benefits from their creative ideas and new approach to old challenges.

As the local supervisor for our Ogallala Commons interns, I am constantly amazed by what these two young women see and how they respond to their experiences in the community. Hearing discussions after returning from an errand, reading their weekly blogs, and asking for their feedback is eye-opening. Their reflections on the community, the talented and friendly people who live here, the ongoing projects and the opportunities to get involved are insightful and thorough, and they help me to see and understand potential areas for improvement in communication, beautification, and additional opportunities to further our mission of stability and growth for Greeley County.

Intern Profile: Katy Reynolds
Hello! I’m Katy Reynolds, and I’m from Tribune, Kansas. I am finishing my bachelor’s degree in Mass Communications with a minor in English at Northwestern Oklahoma State University in Alva, Oklahoma. I am on the rodeo team at Northwestern and I am also the editor of the university’s newspaper. I will graduate in December and hope to move on to completing a master’s degree.

I found out about Ogallala Commons from Christy Hopkins and the Community Development office in Tribune. There was an advertisement in Tribune’s newspaper for the summer internship that Ogallala Commons and the Community Development were providing, so I called Christy, the director of Greeley County Community Development, and got some information about the internship. I was really interested, so I logged on to the Ogallala Commons website and learned what the organization was all about.

I expect to gain more knowledge in my field of study, Mass Communication, and how my major can be used to help rural communities. I really love and enjoy Mass Communications and the different facets of the field, but I also really love living in a rural community, so I hope that this internship can help me find possibilities to use my major to benefit a small town, as well as create venues and opportunities to work in Tribune and rural communities in the future.

In my spare time, I like to rodeo and work with horses and help run cattle. I am newly married, and I also enjoy doing things on the farm with my husband. I enjoy travelling, being involved in the church, and spending time with family.

Intern Profile: Shancee Howell Hello again,
I am Shancee Howell, I am originally from Greeley County, and I very excited to be back for the summer. I received my bachelors in Animal Science for Oklahoma Panhandle State in Goodwell, Oklahoma with a minor in biology, and I continued my education at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, New Mexico. I am currently working on my Masters in Ag Business. I absolutely love the land of enchantment, but my roots brought me back to my rural community.

After being away, I realize how nice it is to come back where everyone knows you, and where you do not have to worry about locking your vehicles. I am truly blessed to call Tribune home.
I was fortunate enough to hold the Ogallala Commons Internship last summer, and loved it. When I found out there were offering it again, I jumped at the opportunity. The people I would with (Christy Hopkins, Carol Miles, and Katy Reynolds) are absolutely amazing, and this year we are privileged to have another intern in the office. I am excited to work with Katy, she is fun, creative, knowledgeable, and brings lots of energy to the office.

Working here last summer really broadened my horizon; I realized just how much this office does for our community. I am very thrilled to be a part of it again. This kind of work is not something I am used to, I come from a cattle background, and it is neat to be involved in a different field of work.

Spare time, well [it] appears I do not have a lot of it. However, I spend most of time dealing with horses, cattle, or family. My whole life has been evolved around rodeo, so it is kind of my building block. In fact, that is how I have paid for my college career is through rodeo scholarships. I rope, tie goats, and run barrels. In the past, I have qualified for both the National High School Finals, the College National Finals, along with the Kansas Professional Rodeo Association Finals. When I am not in the office, I am assisting my brother. He rides several colts, and runs cattle on the side. I am a very family oriented and enjoy spending time with them. I am looking forward to a wonderful summer :)

WELCOME 2011 SUMMER INTERNS

2011-05-24T09:54:00.003-05:00

Hello everyone! We are truly looking forward to a summer full of Ogallala Commons Community Interns and to reading all of your blog entries. Check this blog site regularly for news, events and other items to help you along throughout the summer. To view all 6 Intern Blogs, click on the links on the right side of this page. For now, I have posted the agenda for our Intern Orientation and Tour which will take place on June 2-3 in Nazareth, Texas. I look forward to seeing you all soon!

Julie

2011 Community Internship Orientation

At the Home Mercantile in 101 2^nd Street Nazareth Texas

The Ogallala Commons Community Internship Program welcomes all 2011 Community Interns and Supervisors to the Annual Summer Orientation. This orientation is required for all interns. Please review the agenda before the Orientation. Text in blue indicates items you will need to prepare for PRIOR TO the orientation!

TOPICS COVERED:

v YOUR PERSONALITY TYPE & HOW TO WORK WITH OTHERS

v HOW TO POST ON THE INTERN BLOG

v UNDERSTANDING YOUR WORKPLAN

v HOW TO MAKE A TIME SHEET

v THE 8 KEY SKILLS

v HARVEST CERMONY

AGENDA

8:30 am Registration & Refreshments

8:45 Welcome & Introductions

9:00 Knowing Your Personality Type

Fr. Ken Keller, Nazareth, Texas

Overview of Ogallala Commons

Darryl Birkenfeld, Ph.D., Executive Director Ogallala Commons

Interns should have received a Case Study and website links to review

before conference.

10:10 am Review of Intern Guidebook

Darryl Birkenfeld, Ph.D., Executive Director Ogallala Commons

Julie Hodges, M.S., Education Coordinator, Ogallala Commons

10:50 Break

11am How to Blog and What to Blog About

Julie Hodges, M.S., Education Coordinator, Ogallala Commons

11:20am Break out Sessions

Intern Participants will be divided into (2) groups and will rotate through (2) 30-minute sessions. Supervisors will attend a separate supervisors-only session.

Group 1 - Photography as a tool & resource for observation

Melinda Harvey

If you have a digital camera, please bring it for this session.

Group 2 – Blogging – hands on experience for your first blog post!

Julie Hodges, MS – Ogallala Commons

Students will need a valid email address for this session. Also, if you have a laptop, please bring it as well.

Group 3 - Supervisors-Only

Darryl Birkenfeld, Ph.D. – Ogallala Commons

12:30 Lunch

Lunch will be provided!

1pm Community Service Projects

What to do, When to do it and Why!

Darryl Birkenfeld, Ph.D., Executive Director Ogallala Commons

1:20 OC Intern Equipment

How to check out video cameras and digital voice recorders.

Julie Hodges, M.S., Education Coordinator, Ogallala Commons

1:40 Stipend Payments

How to receive stipend payments for your internship work

2:00 Harvesting Ceremony

Telling people about your internship and thanking supervisors.

2:20 Internship Contracts

2:40 Follow-Up Opportunities for OC Community Interns

CHS College Coop

Entrepreneur Fair

Annual Southern Plains Conference

3pm Photo Shoot and Tour of Playa Classroom

3:45pm Adjournment

If you need assistance finding the Home Merc, call:

Darryl Birkenfeld 806-336-1713 or Julie Hodges 806-445-6075

Directions to Home Mercantile Building

From Dimmitt: Get on Texas Hwy 86 East, drive through Dimmitt, and 12 miles to Nazareth. At the blinking yellow caution light, turn left and drive one-half mile to bottom of hill. At the old Oasis Package Store, turn right on Leo Street and drive up the hill. Two blocks further up Leo Street, on your left is a large rectangular tan stucco building at the corner of Leo and 2^nd Streets: the Home Mercantile.

From Amarillo: Take I-27 to US Hwy 60 (north of Canyon), go around Canyon and head to Umbarger (10 miles west of Canyon). Look for sign for Buffalo Lake National Wildlife Refuge…turn left and cross the railroad tracks…heading south on FM 168. This road will take you south past Buffalo Lake and then 27 miles to Nazareth. As you pass the Nazareth city limits sign, you will be coming to the bottom of the hill (about ¼ mile). Look for the green Leo Street sign right in front of the old blue Oasis Package Store. Turn left on Leo Street and drive up the hill. Two blocks up Leo Street, on your left is a large tan stucco building at the corner of Leo and 2^nd Streets: the Home Mercantile.

From Lubbock: Take I-27 to US Hwy 194 Exit in Plainview, then travel northwest on Hwy 194 (32 miles) to Hart, TX. At the four-way stop (intersection of Hwy 194 and FM 168, turn right and drive through Hart and north on FM 168 for 11 miles to arrive in Nazareth. At the intersection of Hwy 86 and FM 168 stop sign (next to Peoples Bank) cross the intersection and drive one-half mile to bottom of hill. At the old blue Oasis Package Store, turn right on Leo Street and drive up the hill. Two blocks up Leo Street, on your left is a large rectangular tan stucco building at the corner of Leo and 2^nd Streets: the Home Mercantile.

Mary and Shauna Blog #4

2011-05-23T18:39:00.005-05:00

For the final blog we end with our meeting with Tom, Bill, and then meeting up again with Shirley and canning with her. As we close out we realize we’ve learned quite a bit about the old ways of farming and how very commercial we are at this point in our lives. However, we can still manage to get back to the basics with growing our own food. Even now communities are sprouting up gardens for community use, but that’s just the overall look at things.

Firstly, we spoke to Tom Giessel it was more of a running interview as he showed us around the farmland in rural Kansas between Pawnee Rock and Larned. He spoke about his worries about the farmlands as we passed houses that no longer housed farmers but people who did other jobs. At one point he stopped to show us the equipment and the huge sprayer used to keep the crops well. He also pointed out the large bags of seed that he and his brother used. Another the two of us noticed was Tom’s ease on navigating the back roads of the rural areas. He could get us anywhere we needed to be and never once did we really need touch blacktop unless we needed to get to a main road for sure. Tom is also a very big supporter of the Larned Community Garden. For a moment, it takes a person to realize that soon people like Tom are dwindling at the moment, but hopefully as the health consciousness the people who are salt of the earth will be brought anew.

The Gardens that Tom Built

After talking to Tom, we waited just a little while before talking to a very interesting fellow of the name Bill Brenner. He had worked on the farm before tractors came along, and had a few funny stories about the mules. Another thing he said was that at a point in his life wheat was only $0.17 a bushel. Another thing that Bill mentioned was that the children were a big part of the farm life, however, his father did have farm hands to help out with harvest. Unlike most of the stories about farm kids who only make it to school half the year, Bill assured us that his parents made sure he never missed school for harvest. Still with the farming he told us that there were no pesticides to be used, but when the upgrades happened, like the tractor, they were able to work more land. Something else Bill mentioned was that most of the new equipment had been sold under the tag of giving farmers more leisure time, but that didn’t happen all that did happen was farmers were able to have more acres. Still it was very intriguing to take a glance into the past with a man who remembered the Dust Bowl.

Bill Brenner's Family a staple of the past.

Finally after finals we both found our way to Shirley’s house for some good old fashioned canning. Well not completely old fashioned but we didn’t buy our jam. Shirley had picked out a recipe for us to use it was Pine-cot Jam, which in all essence is pineapple and apricot jam. Cheating only a little Shirley had already rehydrated the dehydrated apricots for us, but she still told us exactly how we could rehydrate the apricots if we wanted to. She also told us how to sterilize the jars by putting them in the oven and putting the lids in a pot of water to boil. After that it was taking turns on putting in the ingredients and stirring the contents. We allowed the mixture to boil for two or three minutes before we took the hot glass jars out of the oven, with tongs of course, and began the assembly of our jam.

Mary stirring the Jam.

First we put the hot jars in a pot and then scooped the warm jam out with a cup, not a drinking cup but a measuring cup, and poured it into the jar. After that we picked up the lids, with the tongs again, and then screwed it on the jar with using a cool, wet towel. Finally after tightening the lids we placed them in a large pot to help seal it with the boiling water. The final step only took about ten minutes before we could retrieve our jars with another tong like cooking device. Then we set them on the countertop to cool. It was really interesting and fun to actually make things, taking the hands on approach was interesting to say the least.

Shauna pouring Jam

Over all we both can say that this was a very interesting learning process and an experience we were glad to share with the amazing people that we did indeed share it with. We have many thanks to everyone we spoke to and who allowed us to learn more about this subject.

Cara Young#3

2011-05-17T22:38:00.003-05:00

Its spring time and with the spring comes sprouts, rain, and baby birds! We have had very little rain, too little to even mention, and luckily the sprouts at the garden have not seemed to notice. At least they have not noticed yet because the sprouts are turning into plants. We planted tomato plants like crazy and they are even starting to produce fruit. In preparation of the beds we have been doing lots of weeding and had to pull a large carrot plant that came through from the year before. It looked nothing like a carrot you would buy in the store, but it tasted somewhat the same although it was much tougher.

The birds have been visiting a lot more lately. Probably because we have good food to take back to their babies and provide a nice nursery for the older chicks. I found a nest belonging to a house finch family on the outer edge of the garden. I have been visiting each day as I walk by. They grow so quickly and look so different each day!

Its nice to hear the chatter of the different species of birds and different ages. You get used to the different calls to the point that you might be able to distinguish what those calls mean. One morning while weeding I heard a commotion of what sound like the alarm of a few different species at the same time. When I looked to see where all the noise was coming from I saw an American Kestrel with a baby bird in its talons. The other birds must have been trying to keep the Kestrel away from their own offspring or maybe they were trying to get their own baby back. What ever the case, the Kestrel landed in peace to enjoy its meal on the top of a telephone pole above the garden. It stayed there for a few minutes until I got too close with my camera.

We have had plenty of sprouts and baby birds for this spring.....now lets pray for some of that rain!

Cara Tam#2

2011-05-02T17:09:00.004-05:00

We have been really busy at the garden trying to get as many plants as possible into the ground. It takes a lot of work to get the ground prepped for those baby plants. Luckily we have our own nutritious compost piles at the garden. Marc built this really ingenious contraption to sift the fine soil from the really large chunks.

This is how it works:

Dump a large amount of raw compost from the pile at the top of the cylinder.

Slowly turn the cylinder.

As you turn, the small pieces fall through the screen into containers that are sitting under the cylinder to catch the soil, and the large chunks move out through the bottom of the cylinder.

After many times of repeating this process we take what we have collected into the garden where there is yet another sifter. This sifter helps to get out the smaller pieces of wood that where able to get through the first screen. This part of the process kind of reminds me of the way that archeologists sift through dirt. You fill buckets with the compost just sifted and then pour it over the finner screen. What remains is actually pretty nice looking mulch that we can use in the raised beds.

Learning about compost has been very valuable. Did you know that if you really wanted to and had the time to be very dedicated, you could turn around a pile of compost in three weeks? Three weeks!! Pretty amazing stuff! We are getting ready to have many different work shops at the garden over the summer and one of them with specifically cover composting. You should come!

Teacher and Older Student Evaluations

2011-04-25T22:54:00.003-05:00

Part of our surveys for Teachers and Older Students

Hello!

I have continued to design evaluation tools for Ogallala Commons. Our first pilot study for landowners during Landowner Management Day hosted on March 24, 2011 was a success. I am happy to report that we had 16 surveys returned to us! I will share more details once the data is analyzed, but I am very optimistic after skimming the results.

Most recently I have developed two new tools for evaluating the playa festivals. The first evaluation tool was designed for teachers. The second tool was designed for high school students that have previously attended playa festivals. Both surveys asked questions about individual’s attitudes of playas and their significance in the communities. The teacher surveys also asked questions about the playa festival programming and its impact on students’ understanding of other subjects. We also asked about supplemental activities like the macroinvertebrate jar and the playa trunk to see how these programs could be improved.

The student surveys not only ask about their attitudes toward playas, but also about their knowledge of playas and how their behaviors have changed since attending a playa festival. The goal of this survey is to see how playa festivals continue to impact students long after attending one. To make this successful we will need to get in touch with students who attended festival. Luckily, we have long-standing relationships with teachers who have kept in touch with students. This information will surely be exciting to analyze once we have the results!

Mary and Shauna Blog #3

2011-04-21T16:53:00.012-05:00

Larned's Garden

Going organic and growing your own garden is not something that is just part of the past, it is still very much a part of the present and future. After meeting with Shirley Smith, we needed to talk to someone who had and garden and canned their own food today. This led to us met with Julie Peterson, a teacher at Barton Community College. While talking to her we learned about how she was going back to growing her own vegetable and canning food, a lot like what Shirley did. During our interview, we learned that one of the reasons she started a garden was because of her grandson’s ADHD; she did not want to put anymore chemicals into his body. Plus, with three other grandchildren at her house during the summer, she needed a way to keep them busy and thought gardening was the perfect idea. According to Julie, her grandchildren loved planting seeds in small containers in the house, and eventually it all grew into a much bigger garden that would require a lot of hard work. She also told us that it wasn’t easy to garden because it required the planting of certain flowers to keep away certain bugs and to attract others. To learn all of these little tricks, Julie had to take master gardening courses. To keep up with the weeds and to make sure everything ripe is picked Julie and her granddaughters will spend 2 to 3 hours a day in the garden. But gardening was not enough for Julie. She also wanted organic meat. To accomplish this Julie would buy an entire grass-fed cow and have it butchered. We asked Julie if this change was cheaper for her and she said yes. However, she would still manage to spend a hundred dollars at Wal*Mart for things that she couldn’t make like toilet paper, paper towels, and more.

Julie also said she would go to the Farmers Market or she would drive all the way to Glenn’s Bulk Food, which is right outside of Hutchinson, Kansas on Highway 50, for her fifteen pounds of butter. It’s a lot of driving, but for food that is good, and tastes better, for her family it was worth it. Julie also shared a few stories of when she would make her own pizza sauce and how much her grandkids and husband loved her pizza. One time she forgot to get her sauce out of the freezer and so she had had to resort to store bought food. The second her grandchildren bit into the pizza, they knew there was something wrong; it was too salty. They wanted her to never use anything other than her sauce again. By Julie making her own food, she knows why is in it. Overall, despite the hard work and the long hours that she’d have to put into her garden and canning, Julie says it’s worth it. The money that Julie and her granddaughters make at the farmer’s market will go towards the girls’ savings.

Not everyone has the time to start a huge gardening project, but that still doesn’t mean that they have to buy all of their foods from large corporate stores like Wal*Mart. State cooperatives are also a good way to get food and other merchandise. The Oklahoma Food Coop and the High Plains Food Coop are two local food coops. These coops sell homemade supplies and food from Kansas and Oklahoma. These items include everything from detergent made out of goat’s milk to gardening supplies to food. These coops are almost like an organic Wal*Mart. The really nice thing about buying from these coops is there is a description of each item telling what it is made of. To join and sell or buy through the Oklahoma Food Cooperative, you pay a one-time fee, almost like you are buying a share of stock. The High Plains coop had an annual of fee and you could enter as a non-voting member or own a share of their stock. Both of these coops are wonderful and everyone should check them out! Here are the links: www.oklahomafood.coop
www.highplainsfood.org

Cara #1

2011-04-15T20:24:00.004-05:00

The High Plains Food Bank is well known for their can drives, but did you know that they also have a large garden that contributes to their food production? I will spend my summer as an intern in this garden with Marc Jansing and Morgan Dezendorf of the food bank. Marc and Morgan have created quite a garden which contributed over 20,000 pounds of produce to the food bank last year! But they didn't achieve this by themselves. Volunteers are crucial to the garden's success. They not only help increase production numbers, but their participation encourages others in the community to share in the education and awareness of something that many in the nation have become far removed from, the ability to cultivate your own produce. With effort and education, we can all produce delicious, fresh foods that can virtually go straight from our yards to our plates, and the food bank garden is the perfect place to learn these process for yourself while helping to provide nutritionally valuable food for others. You can learn to compost, weed, trellis, plant from seed or seedling, identify beneficial and harmful pests all while getting to spend some time outside getting a tan and making a positive influence in your community. The garden is a resource for food production and education, and its free. Workshops are offered in the garden on a variety of topics. Last year the topics ranged from staring a garden to cooking classes, and this year there will be so many more! I have learned so much in the short amount of time I have been there and I am looking forward to the many other things there are to learn and what I personally will be contributing to my community as a result.

Something fun and interesting I learned about this week is melon sprouts. We planted radish seeds a couple weeks ago and have been monitoring the beds for their sprouts. The radishes are starting to show and so have melon sprouts. But we didn't plant melons, so where did these sprouts come from? They came from the compost which included last years unusable melons! To keep room for the radishes we have to pluck the melon sprouts out. Marc plucked one out and handed it to me telling me that I could eat it. They are delicious and taste just like an actual melon does. I was thinking that maybe we could try adding these sprouts to salads and if there were enough, putting them into the food bank rotation. I wonder what the kids in kids cafe would think about having those in a salad. Or even on ice cream! It might take a little convincing, but maybe I could try some test trials on kids that I know! Have any of you tried melon sprouts or do any of you have any recipes that include them?

Mary and Shauna Blog #2

2011-03-18T14:44:00.006-05:00

After diving into research about food production during WWII, we set up an interview with Shirley Smith to talk to her about victory gardens. We met with her to have lunch and before we got into the formal interview process we had a conversation about our daily lives and talked to her about herself to make the atmosphere more confortable. As we talked, we learned that Shirley lived in a rural area in northern Kansas around the Russell area. She expressed the fact that even before the war, the rural communities relied on gardens and canning the produce from the garden. Shirley said that women took great pride in their gardens and what they could grow. The women would save the seeds from each growing season and plant them again the next year. If they didn’t plant them again, they would trade with neighbors for already made products or more seeds. The planting and tending process was a family ordeal with the women and children and as was the canning process. The women canned everything from vegetables to meat, with meat being the hardest to can. Shirley seemed to focus in on the fact that the process of canning a pickle was not done right unless a loud ‘snap’ was heard when biting into the pickle.

Shauna, Mary, and Shirley during our interview

After the beginning of the war for the Americans, the canning process became a little more difficult for these women of rural Kansas because of the rationing on sugar, which was a vital ingredient for the canning process. Being a neighbor was a large part of making the rationing process and canning process easier on families. Families with more children were allowed more coupons for sugar and could share with their neighbors when they had extra. Trading or bartering with neighbors was a large part of society in rural Kansas. While talking about trading with neighbors, we brought up the subject of going to the store or getting new things when it was needed. Shirley said this really wasn’t part of their lives at this time, they used what they had, and when it broke they did without because it couldn’t be fixed anymore. Towards the end of our interview we asked Shirley why everyone stopped growing their victory gardens right after the war was over. She told us she believed everyone was tired of doing without and now that they could have more and didn’t have to work as hard, they could just rest.

After the interview with Shauna, Shirley, Linda, and Mary

We also talked with Shirley about community gardens and why she thinks it is important for people to grown their own gardens today. She believes that getting your hands dirty is therapeutic. Shirley is helping with a community garden that is across the street from Park Elementary School in Great Bend. She brings the children over in the spring to help with this garden. She believes this experience gives the children something to be proud of when they can plant a seed and watch it grow and gives them smaller responsibilities. For every weed a child pulls, they get to take home a fruit or vegetable.

For our next blog, we have already planned another oral history with a teacher at Barton County Community College. She has gone back to growing organically and shopping less at the local stores. She believes this makes her whole family healthier. We will also be discussing information we have found about the Oklahoma and Kansas Food Coops.

Shauna studying the Farmers Bulletin gave to us by Tom Geissel

2011-03-04T15:28:00.001-06:00

Me with a Program Evaluation Book. Lots of reading this week!

This week I met with a professor I am working with to discuss program evaluation tools for Ogallala Commons. According to Wikipedia, program evaluation is a systematic method for collecting, analyzing, and using information to answer questions about a program’s effectiveness. My main goal as an intern is to develop instruments, or surveys. The information obtained from the surveys will be useful for improving the programs and they will give insights for how effective programs are.

Since Ogallala Commons works with a variety of groups for different programming, I will have to make a few individualized instruments. Each of the instruments, however, will include information related to knowledge acquisition, change in attitude, and intentions to change behavior. The first evaluation will be for producers who will be attending a conference in Nazareth at the end of the month. Next, I will develop two instruments to evaluate how much students and teachers are impacted by playa festivals. Finally, I will develop a tool to evaluate the experience of people that visit the out door classroom.
One of the challenges for this project are that playa festivals are catered to each school, and as such, change slightly. This could be a problem since true replication is needed for exact answers. We will bypass this problem by focusing on the material that is taught at every session. This will be a learning experience for all of us. At the end of the semester, however, we should have some really great surveys!

2011-03-03T09:17:00.002-06:00

Trapping Prairie Chickens

This last weekend I had the opportunity to trap prairie chickens, a threatened and local bird. It was a great field experience! The goal of the research project is to learn more about prairie chickens—where they live, where they spend their time, how they choose mates, nutritional data, and habitat preferences. My thesis project will not be based on the data I collected this weekend, but it was still great to help.

In order to collect data on the chickens we set up traps on leks, display grounds where about twenty or so prairie chickens come to show off for hens. The traps were made out of metal fencing with nets on top. To get the chickens in the trap, we lined each with chicken wire to guide them into the trap. This trap in no way hurts the bird. In fact, we get there very early in the morning (like at 6 when it is still dark outside) and wait for the birds to come to the lek. Once we see that one or so birds are caught, we immediately get it out of the cage. After collecting some biological information and attaching a radio collar (worn like a necklace), we release the bird and it continues unharmed.

We were very fortunate to trap a total of five birds. Of those five, one was a female and one was at least four years old. We very rarely collect females, especially early in the season. Also, most birds live about 2-3 years, so monitoring this much older bird could lead to new insights about prairie chickens. Overall it was a very exciting weekend, albeit with early mornings and no running water.

The End of My Internship

2011-02-28T13:07:00.008-06:00

I have been a Rural and Community Health Intern for about 7 months. Rural healthcare is a complex and multi-faceted phrase, but one I have grown to be fond of. I have always wanted to go into medicine, but it is hard to picture rural healthcare when you have grown up in big cities your entire life. The knowledge I gained from the internship is something a textbook or lecture is not capable of teaching. I have made numerous site visits, conducted interviews, researched and volunteered. I had the privilege of talking to community advocates, CEOs, medical professionals and people in the rural healthcare system itself. The most informative aspects of my internship were the parts I gained from simply talking to people. Their trials and experiences are the stories I was most fortunate to hear.

The internship culminated in the 22nd Annual Southern Plains Conference. It asked one major question: “What makes communities healthy?” Speakers covered seven facets of health including: physical, economic, mental, spiritual, environmental, emotional and social. My main job in the conference was to moderate and serve on a panel discussion. Public speaking is something I am not overly fond of. Despite the nerves and slight pauses I felt I did alright. My other main contribution was a tool entitled “Observing Your Community’s Health.” It is the contribution I am most proud of. In it I attempted to cover all seven tenements of health. I hope the tool will go on serve members of the conference in their own communities and endeavors. I truly enjoyed the internship, and what I have gained from it will continue to assist me in fulfilling my career goals and dreams.

Meeting at the End of Life: Volunteering in Hospice

2011-02-28T10:56:00.005-06:00

For my internship, I decided to volunteer with a hospice center here in Lubbock. The Medicare guidelines for patients on hospice are stringent and complex. In the simplest terms hospice can best be described as end of life care. The center I chose to volunteer with has a patient range that extends out to towns over two hours away. As you can imagine the distance requires a lot of travelling for nurses, doctors and other staff. To gain more perspective on rural healthcare I opted to volunteer with patients in the Littlefield and Amherst area. Twice a month, I make the 45 minute drive out to their homes, and visit with three individuals. The range of activities go from just chatting to looking at old photographs or watching movies. It is a very rewarding experience, but illustrates the differences in healthcare. It is not the medical side, but the family and community support that varies.

Two of the patients have extensive family support. One lives in a nursing home, but is surrounded by loved ones who live in the area. The other lives with her daughter’s family and is constantly having social interactions. They both have grandchildren, children and friends to visit with them. I have found I am not only a companion to the patient, but the caregiver as well. The third patient I see does not have the same support, and has been a challenging experience. She also lives at home, but lives alone and is young for someone so sick. While sitting with her she has told me “I am not ready to die yet.” It is hard for me to know how to respond, and at times like that I find it best to listen. I have decided to continue volunteering and building relationships until I graduate in May. It is strange to meet someone at the end of their life. I know I cannot change their health, but that doesn't mean I cannot have a positive influence in their lives.

Mary Bitter Blog #1 - Food Production

2011-02-21T12:46:00.010-06:00

The first initiative of our internship is to begin to understand the history of which shaped the way we produce food today. We will be looking at, and comparing, food production from the 1940's to the present. Initially, as a duo, we have begun to look into the past, learning more about what exactly a victory garden was and why they were an important part of the war effort during World War II. To get a full understanding of the past and present, we will be researching articles, taking trips to local farms, and also conducting oral histories with those who have experience with victory gardens and also those with experience surrounding large and small scale food production.

Our main focus will be local food production. When looking in grocery stores around our area, we have found it quite difficult to find products that are locally grown. Most products are shipped to the local stores from many different places around the world. There are a few exceptions. For example, farmers from St, John will bring their melons to Dillon’s, a Kroeger supermarket. Also, we do have a Farmers Market during the summer, but the amount of people shopping there is considerably less than the amount that goes through the local grocery stores. Is this small farmers market enough to show that home grown foods is making a comeback? The subject of current and local food production will be elaberated more later on after we do more research and a few interviews!

This is what a common, small town, farmers market looks like.

Our first research project was finding information about food production during the 1940's. We learned that the government started pushing citizens all over the US to take part in the war effort by growing victory gardens. The gardens were meant to help with feeding families because of labor shortages and lack of transportation to ship products. After the word got around about victory gardens, up to 20 million people had gotten into helping with the war effort and began their victory gardens. These gardens could be seen popping up anywhere from back yards to window gardens to empty lots. The vegetables and fruits grown in these victory gardens were often canned for personal use. This was done so that the commercially canned foods could be saved for the Red Cross to ship overseas to aid men and women in the armed services.

This poster was commonly seen around the US in the 1940's it was used to promote growing victory gardens!

Unfortunately, after the war ended, people no longer were planting victory gardens. By the summer of 1946 there were no victory gardens left in the US. Because of this abrupt stop in subsistence, or self-sufficient, farming there was a food shortage. This was because large food production companies did not have the time or resources to ship massive amounts of food to the grocery stores that quickly. We feel that the event of the end of victory gardens shows how quickly the American people were eager to get back to the ease of relying on commercial food production to feed their families instead of getting out in the heat of summer and working in their gardens.

Blog 2: Jennifer Zavaleta

2011-02-08T13:20:00.003-06:00

Outside of the briefing room at the White House, fall 2008

President Obama’s State of the Union Address discussed the need for more science and math education within our schools. He notes, “The quality of our math and science education lags behind many other nations. We need to teach our kids that it’s not just the winner of the Super Bowl who deserves to be celebrated, but the winner of the science fair; that success is not a function of fame or PR, but of hard work and discipline.” As he explains, science and math should not just be taught in schools, they should be celebrated. As someone who struggled with the ambiguity that science presented in my upper levels of high school, I did not feel as though my successes in science were worth celebrating. Even though many of my AP Chemistry test scores were less than stellar, I gained a lot of confidence in my ability to learn. I very much attribute that the encouragement of my teachers. As one of my chemistry teachers once told me, “Use what you don’t know to figure out what you do know.” I’ll tell you this piece of advice has come in handy in many more situations than determining moles in a solution.

While rich in material and the potential for discovery, math and science are often taught in a sterile way. Convention has many students think that science, and especially math, are boring. But, I ask in what other subject could you make things explode without getting into trouble? Science can be illuminated. That is yet another reason that the Ogallala Commons Project is so important to our community. My allowing student to experience—see, touch, smell, hear, and in some cases (although hopefully not in a lab), taste—science, they learn to love it not just as a subject but as something to celebrate.

An Introduction: Jennifer Zavaleta

2011-01-31T15:33:00.001-06:00

Hiking in Condor Canyon in Peru

Hi my name is Jennifer Zavaleta and I am a graduate student at Texas Tech University studying wildlife management. While I have always appreciated learning about ecology and spending time in the outdoors, my background is related to international development. I graduated from Claremont McKenna College in May 2010 with a BA in Government with a Leadership Sequence. After working as an environmental educator in California and Colorado, I am eager to start working with Ogallala Commons. In the past I have worked with middle schoolers and have taught them about not just the beauty but the reality of the natural world. It is always inspiring to see children’s faces light up when they start to explore the nature and start to recognize its complexities.

As a conservation enthusiast, and now studying to be a conservation biologist, I recognize how important it is for students to have an intimate connection with nature. Improving environmental conditions depends greatly on people recognizing the intrinsic and not just instrumental value of ecosystems. I full heartedly believe that once students begin to understand the natural world and experience it first hand, they will see its beauty and feel compelled to protect it.

One of my main goals is to work on program evaluations, specifically to develop instruments to measure how effective playa festivals and other outreach programs are. This will be a new challenge for me, but I attempt it with alacrity since I know the positive impact that Ogallala Commons has in West Texas and surrounding areas.

The Community Advocate

2011-01-17T20:07:00.003-06:00

Myself and Retta Knox at the clinic

When it comes to rural healthcare, it seems a common, if not vital, trend is that of the community advocate. Without these individuals much of the rural healthcare I see would not even exist. In Hart, Texas that advocate is Retta Knox, RN. Since coming to the school clinic in 1993 she has transformed it from a one room school nurse’s office, to a community clinic and dental office. When I asked her why she began transforming the clinic, she said one word—frustration. When children came to the clinic she could tell they had strep or an earache, but due to funding and the family’s inability to pay, she could only send them home. As a result the child was in pain and oftentimes would miss a week of school while they recovered. Several children had even developed chronic medical problems because of a lack of treatment. One of the most infuriating stories I heard was that of a grandmother who took care of her grandchildren. The family was on Medicaid, and out of 6 counties in the area there are only 7 dentists who accept it. Out of those, they implement incredibly stringent policies for patients on Medicaid. At one office, the switchboard is open for one two-hour period during the month. That window of time is the only time Medicaid patients can call and make appointments. In this particular case, the office the grandmother took her children to implemented a one-strike policy. If you were a certain time past your appointment or missed it, you were not allowed to come back. The first time she took the children; they got a flat-tire and were unable to make it. The office gave them one more chance. On the second appointment their grandfather had died, and the appointment was scheduled during the funeral. The office would not allow the back,and they now go to the school’s dental office. Stories like these are what made me realize how thankful we should all be for our community advocates.

The Telemedicine equipment used. It allows doctors from Lubbock to see patients virtually.

An image from the Telemedicine machine of an ear drum. It has a stethoscope and otoscope attached.

Wrapping it up

2010-12-29T13:14:00.015-06:00

And this comes to the conclusion of my internship. I sit here still trying to grasp that it is the end. And here I am, sitting to type my last blog.

During my internship with Ogallala Commons I have been working away on getting an educational Playa Trunk ready with lesson plans for teachers to implement into their classrooms. After many hours and much relief, the binder with all of the lesson plans is completed!!! I have turned it in already and failed to take a picture of it, so there is nothing to show. The trunk itself is almost completed. All that is left to do with that is putting in the extra materials that needed to be purchased into the trunk, along with organizing it all. Another project of mine was putting together a promo video for the Playa Festivals. I've mentioned before in a previous post that I am absolutely terrible with technology. As I was forced to roll up my sleeves and tackle technology in order to make the video, I've come to the realization that it's not the big scary monster I thought it was. There is nothing like a good push to get me going! I finished the revisions on the video yesterday, and I feel like a burden has been lifted off my shoulders. I feel so light I think I can float into outer space. But, I've come to realize that this internship has been more than just getting things done. As cliche as it may sound, it was a great learning experience for me.

I really enjoyed my volunteer time at the South Plains Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. You can't help but see the love that the volunteers have for these animals, as if these animals were their own child. I was amazed at the amount of information they knew about different species of wildlife, and they said that it came with time. Time is a valuable asset that cannot be taken back. The volunteers sacrifice so much of their time in order to keep the place running. They spend countless hours feeding, cleaning, and caring for these animals. I don't think that these volunteers receive the credit that they so deserve. I enjoyed learning about the different animals. I've also gained a new found respect for wildlife. Not that I completely hated wildlife before, it is just that now I realize how interesting each different animal is, that they are so unique. But what I enjoyed most were the volunteers. How quick they were to answer my questions, how they showed me how to do things (I got to feed a baby squirrel!), but most of all how each of them are unique in their own way.

I have also enjoyed my time working with Ogallala Commons. Julie and Darryl are helpful, patient, and gracious, which has made my time working with them amazing! I see the strong vision that they have to educate people about the Ogallala aquifer and the conservation of water. They educate people on the soils in this area, along with the flora and fauna. Education in these areas are a necessity because everything is interconnected. What we do affects our natural surroundings, and if we are not careful in being good stewards of our natural resources, we are destroying hope for the future generations. Through teaching about these things, the hope is to instill in people a love for it, because it is usually through a love for something that we are willing to put effort in fighting for what we love.

From attending the Playa Festivals, I have gained more knowledge and a new found respect for water. Water is what we depend on and is life giving. It waters the crops that we eat. It provides the nourishment that our bodies need. Yet, we waste it away. We waste so much of it without even putting a second thought into it. I have also come to appreciate more and more the Great Plains. Lubbock has been home to me for almost 5 years now, and the more I learn about the Plains, the more I come to love it. And the more I love it, the more I desire to care for it. This internship has spurred me on even more so in my love for this place. It has been more than just working on projects and learning facts about different things. I have obtained many invaluable life lessons through this internship, and I am thankful.

The Playa Festival Video.

Internship Pays Off in the Classroom

2010-12-06T11:05:00.003-06:00

In the beginning of my freshman year last year, my Advertising professor stressed to the whole class how important internship opportunities are for students during college, to get them into the work force once they graduate.

She asked us to raise our hands if we had, or were currently, taking part in an internship, and maybe 5% of the class had raised their hands. Like 95% of the class, both my hands had sat quietly in my lap, as I looked about the room at the few scattered hands. I thought, "We're only freshmen, we have plenty of time later on for internships."

About a week ago, my new Ad professor gave my class the same speech. "Internships are vital in creating experience and skills that you'll need for the work force! It also builds your resume..." He then asked us, by a show of hands, how many were currently, or had previously, participated in an internship. About 20% had raised their hands...and this time, mine was in the air, too.

So how important are internships to college students? It's the difference between working odd jobs until you graduate, and getting jobs in your field before you even receive your degree.

E-profiles...the new "traditional" resume

2010-12-05T15:29:00.004-06:00

E-profiles. The newest version of the resume. Thirty years ago, you'd sit down at a type-writer, slide in a piece of paper, and start recording all of your previous work experience, express why you wanted the job, and then send the paper, and type away at another copy of the same resume. Fifteen years ago it got a little easier with the technology of the computer, and now, in present-day, paper resume's are slowly transforming again...into e-profiles.

What exactly are e-profiles? The easiest way to define them are to compare them to electronic resumes. Why am I even talking about this? Because it has been my job to research these, and create a template in which OC can use to potentially provide for their interns to post resumes online.

These profiles can be as simple, or complex, as desired. Some sample e-profiles that I've looked at have two pages that cover an overview of the applicant and also list experience, goals, and talents. Others have been so complex that they have videos, music, and other active media such as linked interviews.

I think it would be awesome if OC would fall somewhere in the middle of these two. We want it simple enough that it's user-friendly, but also need it to be visually appealing. We could also link the profiles to the OC blog site so that people could see the work being done, first-hand!

Intern Video Created in Hopes of Creating Even More Excitement

2010-12-03T13:09:00.000-06:00

By Alexis Schwarz

As many of you know, I’m the PR and Multimedia intern for OC this fall. One of my main jobs these past few months was to make a movie that would be presented at conferences, meetings, and trainings in hopes to create buzz and excitement for the many internship opportunities that OC offers.

This short video is informative…but it’s also something that most are not, shown through the eyes of the interns. Who better to give input and insight into the internships than the interns that have already completed them first-hand?

The five minute video highlights accomplishments by individual interns, the overall goal of OC itself, and rules and lessons learned throughout your experience with OC. The presentation is complete with pictures, quotes, articles, and hopefully recorded interviews with several interns a little later on…and of course the perks, including free college credit-what can beat that?

Hopefully with the addition of this new intern video, it not only provides interested individuals with information on the OC internships, but gives it a personal spin into what it really means to be a part of Ogallala Commons.

Typing Away

2010-11-07T16:30:00.006-06:00

First off, let me just say....it's NOVEMBER!!! Wowzers! Time is really flying by!

I can hardly believe that my internship is almost done with! I have been cranking out lesson plan after lesson plan as I'm retyping and reformatting the 2o plus lesson plans we have for the trunk so that they are more uniform and more aesthetically appealing. I'm on my last lesson plan, and doing some research for it and figuring out how to make it into a good activity for the students to learn from. Sometimes, it's a bit tricky trying to make an activity fall in line with the TEKS ( I've mentioned in a previous post that TEKS are what the teachers are required to teach to the students). I just have to say, I have a new found respect for teachers and for others who write out lesson plans for educational purposes that are also fun and enjoyable for the students.

So, this isn't work related, but kind of is. This Halloween I was invited to a storybook themed party, and decided to go as Pinocchio. As I was walking out my door heading to the party, I remembered the grasshopper puppet that was included in the Playa educational materials. So he went with me as Jiminy (even though Jiminy is actually a cricket--it worked). All this to say, most everyone at the party had asked me, " So where the heck did you get a grasshopper puppet from?" And I got to reply by explaining my internship with Ogallala Commons and that my primary project is to put together an education trunk, which happened to include puppets. Just a fun story about how my costume prop allowed me to share about Ogallala Commons.

Wild Life

2010-10-23T22:38:00.021-05:00

So I just have to say how my life is pretty crazy wild at the moment, and I'm sure it will continue on until...well...when is life not crazy wild?! Thus, I am doubling up on what I have been up to for the past couple of weeks in this one post.

Honestly, last week was pretty uneventful as I was just working on lesson plan organization. But this week, I feel like I have had more momentum. I have a more definite plan on when I need to get all the lesson plans done for the Playa Trunk. I have a date set for when my Playa Festival promo video should be submitted (which, I'm still a tad bit nervous about, if you remember a previous post of mine about my lack of technological skill). And also, today I started my first day of volunteering at the South Plains Wildlife Rehabilitation Center.

The center cares for injured, ill, displaced, or orphaned wild creatures until they are able to be released. But, not all creatures can be released because of permanent physical injuries that prevent them from surviving in the wild. Also, some wild creatures are imprinted, meaning that they are used to being around humans, and some of the "wild" creatures used to be house pets (illegally), making them dependent on humans. Some of the wild creatures that are kept are used for educational purposes. Actually, at the Playa Festivals, there is a presentation done by Gail Barnes, who tells the kiddos about different kinds of birds, and she brings them along with her! What better way of learning about birds than to have them there in the flesh!?

Man oh man, was my time at the Center fun! But, I was totally bummed out that I hadn't brought my camera. How did I forget my camera!? Maybe, subconsciously I was doing my best not to stick out like a sore thumb, like an over-eager tourist in a foreign country taking pictures of everything. I digress. Anyways, right now it is their slow season. Despite that, I am still able to gulp down so much new information. I have never really been around wildlife before, so it was exciting to be up close and personal. As a brand spankin new volunteer, I just tagged along with the more experienced volunteers who have been working at the center for awhile. I asked question after question, and they kept feeding me answers. There is just so much I do not know!

We worked with the birds. The center has several different bird species, and these are the ones I remember at the top of my head: Great Horned Owls, Turkey Vultures, Eurasian Collared Doves, Mississippi Kites, Mourning doves, Barn Owls, Great Blue Heron. Of course, there are more that have slipped my mind, and I am still in the process of learning bird names. Seeing the Great Blue Heron was especially exciting as I remembered and made the connection that they are commonly found at playa lakes! The Great Blue Heron has a wing injury and will be getting x-rayed. Hopefully, the wing injury can be remedied so that it can be set free again. To top off my excitement, some of the volunteers had to pin down the heron to force feed it bits of fish, as it was not eating on its own. They used some tongs to work the fish down its throat, and just helped push the fish down the esophagus. Fascinating! I am eager to hit up the center again soon!
Great Blue Heron found in the wild (Google images)

Population 3800

2010-10-15T18:37:00.010-05:00

The idea of rural health care is beginning to take shape—albeit not a readily identifiable one. It still looks more like a 3-D Rorschach ink blot. Each time I interview someone new, read another article, or visit a site there is a plethora of information awaiting me. My first site visit to the Plains Memorial Hospital in Dimmit, Texas was no exception. The facility was much nicer than what my pre-conceived expectations were, in retrospect it is something I am ashamed to have thought. My tour guide, and interviewee was Linda Rasor, BSN, the CEO of the hospital. The hospital features an emergency room area, but is also connected to a clinic where the four on-staff physicians practice.
The most unexpected things I found were a water-rehabilitation pool with underwater camera for therapists to monitor, a microdermabrasion machine, a Philips 16-slice CT Scanner, and that the hospital is on Facebook. The hospital portion receives about 300 visits a month. As with many rural hospitals their biggest obstacles are funding and staffing. It took them a year to recruit a new physician to the staff. They tend to use a "grow your own" system where they educate high school students on the benefits of a medical career. They also have contracts with Amarillo College and West Texas A&M for continued education recruitment. As for funding they are a stand alone hospital. 20% of patients are uninsured or charity care, while Medicaid and Medicare account for roughly 77%. Collections is a big issue for the hospital.

Even with these challenges they have implemented a slew of programs. Their annual flu vaccination gives out about 500 flu shots in one day to the 3800 residents. One of the main health issues in the community is Diabetes. To help educate individuals a dietitian goes over the proper diet, exercise and medicine people can use to help prevent and ease the disease. When I arrived I was interested in some of the basic medical needs of communities. For example, where do people fill their prescriptions? The answer: The hospital has a pharmacy in-unit and there is also one in town. The community is also fortunate to have an EMS team. Patients are stabilized in their Level 4 trauma center then taken to Amarillo or Lubbock via an ambulance or Care-Flight. I have pages of notes from my visit, and these are just a few of the tidbits I picked up. I will be visiting the site again when I travel out to Hart, TX. After going on the tour I realized I had left my camera in my bag. When I return I will update the post with pictures from inside the hospital.

Intern Movie in the Works! Schwarz

2010-10-13T21:59:00.002-05:00

I have some exciting news…the OC intern movie is in the making! As the Media Intern for Ogallala Commons this fall semester, one of my big projects is to put together a movie about the internships that are offered by OC and the benefits and experience you gain from it, too.

I have compiled pictures off of the intern’s blogs, quotes from different interns, and have also been working on the script for the movie. This week I’ve been getting interviews lined up with interns so that I can actually record them and use them for the movie as well.

This presentation will be used as a tool as a creative and fun way to show Ogallala Common’s supporters and people who are interested in potential internships what it’s really about. It will give a different perspective, the view of actual interns that have gone through the process, and you’ll be able to hear their stories, advice, and thoughts on the experience.

I have also been sorting through the Ogallala Commons mailing list so that all of the contacts are in one place and easy to find. Along with that, I’ve also been researching e-profiles in hopes of helping OC start up an e-profile site for their interns to keep an online resume for themselves.

Lubbock Lake Landmark

2010-10-12T10:21:00.007-05:00

This past weekend I made a trip out to the Lubbock Lake Landmark to get inspiration and ideas to formulate some kind of lesson plan on the native plants found here in the plains. The site is a National Historic and State Archaeological Landmark. The site used to be a water drawl that dried out. In the late 1930s two boys accidentally stumbled upon a fossil. That is when excavation at the site began The site contains artifacts that date as far back as 12,000 years ago!

Going to the Lubbock Lake Landmark this past weekend was enjoyable. I had been out there several times as one of my NHH classes met out there once a week. It's funny how much I enjoy things much more when it's not required for a class. I took some time to observe the exhibit about the plains and the natives that inhabited way back when. It never fails to astonish me that there is so much history at the Lubbock Lake Landmark that dates back thousands of years!

I find learning about the Natives so intriguing as they depended completely on the land and nature for survival. They did not let anything go to waste, and they did not overuse more than what was necessary for survival. I find myself completely enthralled by the lifestyle of the Natives as they were very much innovators and found a use for everything. They used bones of the animals they hunted as tools. They used every part of the yucca plant; the roots were ground and used for soap, the leaves for weaving baskets, and the berries for fermented drink. I wish I were Native American.

The purpose of the Lubbock Lake Landmark is preservation. Preserving the artifacts and the history of the place so that it is not forgotten. Preserving the culture of the peoples that once roamed freely. Preserving an understanding of how crucial and important the land and nature are for survival.

Before leaving, I went for a walk on the trail that leads through the landmark. Surrounded by the native grasses and plants, I couldn't help but imagine what life would be like hundreds, and even thousands, of years ago. To see herds of bison running through the plains. To see the Natives hunting, setting up tipis, making things that the land has provided them. I find that my heart yearns for that. I yearn to learn from nature and to exist so intertwined with it that I cannot shake free from it, that it will consume my being.

Lesson Plans and Flip Cam

2010-10-04T10:29:00.012-05:00

This past week consisted of me sitting, alot. I did some reading out of a book called The Alphabet of Trees: A Guide to Nature Writing, which contains a compilation of essays from educators, nature writers, fiction writers, and poets. This book includes different aspects of writing: poetry, fiction, non-fiction, creative. It is a useful tool in getting great ideas on how to effectively incorporate these different styles of writing into nature writing/ a nature journal. This book has been a valuable source to me as I am attempting to conjure up some ideas for lesson plans that could be included in the Playa Trunk. I, of course, read through the TEKS to make sure that any ideas that may pop up into my head will fall inline with the teaching requirements for the fifth grade. I've typed up some ideas, and we'll see what else comes to mind. I'm starting to think more like a teacher, and it is weird, but good.

I've also been doing my best to compile video clips of different Playa Festivals into one short video about the Playa Festivals to post on the Playa Festival blog. I don't have an Apple computer, which is a pity seeing as how the program iMovies makes movie making fun and a cinch. But, I have been using a Flipcam. Let me tell ya, using the Flipcam has been no sweat at all! Which is great, because I am in every way technologically impaired( I don't even have text messaging! I know, I am the epitome of archaic). Hopefully, with the help of Julie, as I won't be able to attend all the festivals, I can get more footage for this video. So, we'll see how much my technology skills improve, and hopefully, a (decent) video will be made.

Week 4

2010-09-26T17:06:00.011-05:00

I feel that as time progresses, my weeks just get busier and busier!

This past week I made it out to the Playa Festival at Oak Grove Elementary in Brownfield, TX. There was a hoard of students at this festival, much more than there were at Abernathy; it seemed like triple the amount! We loaded up on three buses, and headed to the same playa. Because of the recent rains, the playa was filled with water. So, we just walked around the massive puddle of water to scope out the playa. With so many students, all the teachers did their best to keep their students in line. But of course, kids are naturally curious, and they would start wandering closer and closer to the water! Then, someone would notice, reprimand them, and they would be back in line again. There was much ruckus, and I actually enjoy it as the kiddos are just filled with energy and excitement, ready to explore!

We got to see some interesting things out at the playa. One of my favorites was a carcass of a black heron. The kids got a kick out of that one! There were also small little frogs, or were they toads? I always seem to get those critters confused. Anyhow, there were tiny little ones the size of a thumb.

I'm getting some footage on video so that I can compile it into a short video about the Playa Festivals.

Also this week, I've been reading through a book titled How to Keep a Naturalist's Notebook by Susan Leigh Tomlinson. She is actually the director of the NHH major (NHH is the acronym for Natural History and Humanities), a professor, and adviser to NHH majors. Yes, she is pretty much super woman and can do many things. I aspire to be like her some day! (Not trying to brown nose; she really is super awesome). After reading through the book, I realized that everything in the book is what she taught us in our NHH Field Craft course. Honestly, I wasn't very much motivated to do journaling/nature notebooking at the time of taking the class ( which I now regret), but now I see the deep value in it. It is more than just jotting down notes and drawing things; it's about slowing down to appreciate nature and to learn by observing. So, I'm reading through this book, trying to formulate ideas for lesson plans that can be added to the Playa Trunk. For now, it is a work in progress.

Abernathy Playa Festival

2010-09-21T21:41:00.014-05:00

Last week I went to the Playa Festival out in Abernathy. The Playa festival is partially sponsored by the O.C and is used to educate the 5th graders about the High Plains water sources. They learn about the Ogallala aquifer and playas, soils, watersheds, and the flora and fauna that is commonly found in/ around playas. Because it coincided with some of my classes, I unfortunately wasn't able to make it the full two days. But, I did get to go out on Thursday afternoon and Friday morning, and it was good.

Driving out to Abernathy, I felt excited, and yet a bit nervous, about my first Playa Festival, almost like the first day jitters of starting a new school year. I arrived, and the school principal was extremely friendly and led me to where the 5th graders were for the Festival. Julie was in the middle of presenting how to keep a playa journal. After the presentation, we headed out to the playas.

We all boarded the yellow school buses and were on our way. The roaring of the bus engine along with the buzz of chatter immediately sparked within me nostalgia, bringing me back to my elementary and middle school days of riding the yellow school bus. Too bad I didn't bring a sack lunch along.

We arrived at the playa, and snaked our way through the thick grasses. We were actually walking right through a playa! I was pretty amazed as I've never even seen a playa before. Well, maybe I have but just never knew it! I felt very much like a kid again, listening intently to Jim Steirt, an outdoor writer and waterfowler, as he was telling the kiddos about the different plants and wildlife that are common in playas. It was so exciting to see the young learners light up with excitement as they were making the connections between what they had learned in class and what they were seeing with their very eyes and what they were getting to touch with their very hands! We got to identify cuckleburs, smartweed, long barb arrowhead, dodder, spycrush (sp?), orb snails, and many other things. My mind was soaking it all in like a sponge, and it was goood! The kiddos stuffed their baggies with their fun finds to keep so that they could later write about them.

Sadly, the hour came to an end, and we headed back to the buses. I overheard two girls talking. Girl one exclaimed, " Oh man, I didn't even get to look for any orb snails!" and Girl two replied with, " Oh it's ok, since we live down the street we can come back together sometime and find some more stuff." The whole point of these Festivals is to educate the kids so that their eyes are opened to their surroundings. The hope is to provide them this knowledge so that they can apply it to their every day lives. After hearing the comments made by the girls, I couldn't help but smile.

Week 2, Schwarz

2010-09-20T00:28:00.003-05:00

Although this isn’t my first time working through Ogallala Commons, it seems like everything I work on is new and fresh…which is a good thing in my point of view. My first two weeks as the Media intern, I focused on creating a new blog that would give OC the opportunity to have a monthly newsletter that the public can see.

The Place, is a compilation of articles written by Darryl Birkenfield and Julie Boatright, along with pictures and events that are going on during that month that Ogallala Commons is involved with. Not only does the blog keep people up-to-date, but it’s also a great way to show the readers what kind of outstanding things are being done within the organization.

One of my main projects right now is to create a presentation explaining what the intern programs are all about. The cool thing about this project is that it’s not just a Powerpoint defining words and flashing a couple of pictures…this presentation will be put into an iMovie type format that will feature clips of interns sharing stories and achievements, and also giving their take on the whole experience, and what they got out of it…be it new job opportunities, friends, or just a great feeling of accomplishment.

Week 1, Schwarz

2010-09-19T23:23:00.000-05:00

Round Two
By Lexi Schwarz

Hi everyone, I’d like to quickly introduce myself, as I am the one that will be maintaining this newsletter for the next several issues. My name is Lexi Schwarz, and I am a sophomore Advertising major at the Univeristy of Nebraska-Lincoln. This past summer, I had the opportunity to be a PR and Communications intern for my hometown, working with local nonprofits, through our Economic Development program. By the end of the internship, I had gained knowledge, and acquired job opportunities that I never would’ve imagined possible.

One of the criteria for the internship was to post a weekly blog on Ogallala Commons’ intern blog site about what I was doing, how I was doing the task, and how the process was coming along. Through doing this, my work caught the attention of other OC supervisors and I was offered another internship that would start in the fall. I jumped at the opportunity, and am now the Media and Public Relations intern for Ogallala Commons.

This position directly relates to what I want to do in the future. Using my writing, communications, and networking skills, all at the same time. Not only am I lucky enough to have a job that works around my messy class schedule and has given me free college credit, not once, but twice!...it's also one I enjoy and can use to expand my resume in the future.

Finding the Heart of Lubbock

2010-09-19T21:50:00.015-05:00

Explore your community that was all the exercise was. Find the town center, dying areas, daily commutes, etc. It sounded like such a simple task on paper. But, when it came time to map out my route and write about it, I struggled. I thought for days about what perspective to write from. That of a university student, or do I try putting myself in the shoes of a native Lubbock resident? For me the city is half-way zoned into distinct areas, but it is also a juxtaposition of higher socioeconomic areas and lower ones. On one side of Texas Tech there are million dollar homes right across the street. On the other, houses that might not reach the $50,000 mark. There are homes occupied by students right next to those housing permanent residents. The eastern area of Lubbock is typically seen as a lower socioeconomic area. Outside the loop from around 70th street and onward seems to be where many of the more expensive neighborhoods lie. Below are some of the points that stood out the most as I set out to discover Lubbock, Texas.

1.“Find the center of the city”: My first step was to figure out what I considered the center of the town. I thought about the cotton industry that Lubbock started with, or the “Music Crossroads of West Texas,” title as visitlubbock.org states. But then I asked, what is the hub of the hub city for me? In my eyes, Texas Tech University. That was my X on the map, the start and end of my exploration. After all, it was why I came here in the first place. I realized I had to go on a tour of the city as I know it, and write with my own voice.

2.“Pursue the main drag”: One of the main drags in Lubbock is Broadway. It is a melting pot for college students, permanent residents and out of town visitors. Broadway is known as a booming night-life area and attracts hordes of college students every weekend. It also houses restaurants where many in the community eat at, and churches where many worship at. When there is a football weekend its spirit shops and close proximity to the stadium make it a main attraction. One side of the street begins right where the boundaries of Texas Tech end, so I decided to head east down the road.

3.“You should explore a dying area, slums or sections of abandoned homes”: When I got to the eastern area I began scoping out abandoned buildings. As I walked through, I saw a man pushing his ice-cream cart, its bells jingling as he walked. I stopped him and picked out a strawberries and cream cone. The ice-cream was delicious, and not a brand I could find at Market Street or Wal-Mart for that matter. Many of the houses in the area were run-down and several were boarded up. It was a lower socioeconomic area, but it was also an area full of life. Right behind a vacant building, where squatters had once lived, was a baseball field. There were at least 15 people hanging out in the sun. The decrepit and worn down against the vibrant, another juxtaposition.

4.“Touch and explore the Historic District”: Amongst the 11 guidelines, the historical places I visited wound up being my favorite. I was not sure if we had a designated historical district when I thought about where to go. There is a smattering of museums, but I wanted to find sites that take me by surprise. I knew Buddy Holly is buried at the Lubbock Cemetery, and that the Buddy Holly Center honors his and others music. His plot is a small humble headstone that sits next to those of his family. A sign at the entrance to the cemetery reads: “It is customary to place a guitar pick on the headstone so that the ‘music lives on’.” The sign also told me he died at 22, my age. My next stop, the Canyon Lakes Area. The most unexpected thing about it is the Comanche and buffalo hunter battle that happened there on March 18, 1877. The battle is a piece of Lubbock’s history, but not something I expected to find.

One of my first stops was also where I found the most inspiration, the Louis Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts. On the outside of the building is a gravel expanse filled with metal hearts. As I was taking pictures of them I realized I was trying to find the heart or hearts of my community. Lubbock is a unique mix of places and history that make it what it is. Some of its hearts are worn, some are beautiful, some are vibrant, and some are just trying to stay afloat, but no matter how you describe them they all add up to home.

Rural health care. What does it all mean?

2010-09-14T21:50:00.005-05:00

Rural-- it is a word often thrown around to describe smaller, more isolated communities. But, what does it actually mean? Is it a statistical analysis based upon the number of people in a given area? Or perhaps, it is as John. A Gale, a research associate at Main Rural Health Research Center claims, "Their (rural residents') definition of "rural" is defined by their experiences, context and perceptions." If the definition of rural has so many layers; I can't help but wonder how many more facets there will be when I add health care to the end of it.

As part of my introduction to rural health care I read 12 articles from the Health Progress Journal. The most surprising part was which basic medical needs it is difficult for rural communities to fulfill. Each town has its own unique set of issues, but two challenges kept coming up again and again. The shortage of health care personal including doctors, nurses, and other staff members was a common theme. The other and possibly most important factor-- money. I have lived in urban settings such as Dallas my entire life. When I realize I need a prescription at 11:45 in the evening, I simply grab my phone and Google the nearest 24 hour pharmacy. If, knock on wood, I was to get in a traffic accident, I know the medical facilities in the area could handle almost any injury sustained. What I have never experienced is what it might be like to barely have access to pharmacies. To have one health care provider for 1,250 people. Or to drive dozens of miles for follow-up appointments. As I read the articles I thought about what challenges the West Texas communities might face. I hope to answer these questions soon, but for now wondering will simply have to do.

--Tabitha King--

Sarah Le- Week 2

2010-09-12T14:39:00.003-05:00

This past week I decided that I was going to go through all of the Playa Trunk Binder to get a better grasp and understanding of the different activities it contains. I grabbed the binder, a blanket, and a sandwich, and headed to the park. Under the shade of a luscious tree, I spent some time reading through each activity, jotting down ideas, questions, and possible materials that may need to be purchased that isn't found among the other goods stored in the boxes I have (pictured in previous post). Some of the activities seem really interesting and fun, making me wish I were in the 5th grade again.

I took some time to rummage through the boxes, and in doing so, realized that there really isn't as much stuff as I had originally thought. At first, I was thinking that I would have a ton of stuff to try and condense down, but I feel much relief as it seems quite doable.

There was a VHS video tape found in the box that goes along with the trunk. As I do not have a VHS player ( really, who does anymore?!) I brought it up to the Tech Library in hopes of watching it as they have VHS players. Actually, the machine can convert the VHS video onto a DVD! Technology always continues to amaze me! I was pumped and excited, only to my disappointment that I didn't bring headphones to be able to watch the video, and you have to bring your own DVD to burn the video on to. A slight setback, which is irritating as I wanted to get it done, but I'll just go up another day. I'm constantly learning, though not easy all the time, to be flexible and be ok with setbacks/ change in plans. I'll keep on keepin on.

This is all I've got for now. Until next time!

Sarah Le - Week 1

2010-09-04T11:36:00.012-05:00

Well helllooo Ladies and Gents. My name is Sarah Le, and I am a new intern for the O.C. I am a Natural History and Humanities major at Texas Tech University in good ole Lubbock, TX. This is, hopefully, my last year of my undergraduate studies. As it is my last year, I am required to do a senior project that is based off of an internship, so that is where the O.C. fits in.

This past week was my first week of being an 'official' intern, and I've slowly eased my way into work. I'm honestly trying to balance out school and doing internship work, as I've never had a job where I get to work from home and on my own time. I've never had such freedom! I often find myself thinking, " Where do I begin?" and "What am I going to do today?" and " Man oh man, why do I feel like I'm doing absolutely nothing productive?!" I am still adjusting to the new work 'format,' and though it is different, I am enjoying it. So far, I've taken some time this week to read up on the playa lakes and the Ogallala aquifer, as I am not all that familiar with either. I've taken some time to look up different volunteer opportunities, as that is one requirement of my internship. I've also cracked open the binder to the Playa Teaching Trunk, which contains different learning activities that meet the requirements of the TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills).

My major project for the semester will be organizing the binder, along with boxes full of materials, into a trunk-sized box that will be easily transportable for fifth grade teachers to check out. The hope is to educate the young learners about the Playa lakes, the Ogallala aquifer, the great plains, and the flora and fauna that are found within the plains and the playas. The boxes that I have are filled with all kinds of miscellaneous goods: coffee filters, sandwich bags, glass viles, rubber bands, animal puppets, timers, etc etc. I've got my work cut out for me, as you can see from the picture, the boxes I must go through. But it'll be ok. I've met a new friend earlier this week by the name of Coyote (sitting on top of the boxes) who will help keep me company. I have a feeling that by the end of this semester, we'll be really close friends.

Intern Newsletter 8th Issue

2010-08-02T11:12:00.010-05:00

Intern Spotlight

Hey everyone! My name is Michelle Hochstein and I am sixteen years old. I live in Nazareth, TX and am going to be a junior at Nazareth High School this coming school year. I have been extremely busy this summer with my internship. By the end of next week I will have completed the maximum 200 hours and 10 volunteer hours available through this internship. Through this time, I have competed several projects within my community. With the help of my fellow intern Kendra Huseman, we have successfully completed a map of all the homes in Nazareth and the surrounding areas, written 8 newsletters for our community, designed a new newsletter format, created a Facebook account for our Newsletter, completed a walking tour of Nazareth, made a new map of our cemetery, finished a new list for the cemetery, planted and maintained a garden, helped with Meals on Wheels each week, and prepared a salad every Wednesday for the community meal. As you can see, we have been working very hard this summer, and I have learned so much about my community!

I’m Sara Wheeler and I am an Intern for the Baca County Economic Development Committee, in Baca County Colorado. I am eighteen years old and recently graduated from Pritchett High school, and will be attending Oklahoma Panhandle University this fall. I have always been very active in both my school and community, being involved in many things. I love volleyball, basketball, 4-H and FFA.
One of the biggest projects I have been working on is a shop local campaign. I have made a brochure that advertises the gift shops, and flower shops within the county, along with designing and making various other advertising items. Such as paystubs, newspaper ads, and posters that will help persuade community members to stay locally when shopping, and the benefits of doing so. I have had a great time working on this project.

Hello, my name is Bianca Ramirez I am going to be a senior at Shallowater High. I’ve lived in many different places but never got an opportunity to work with something such as OC. I love being outdoors I’m an adventurous person! I love exploring and doing new things. I also play softball and enjoy working with little kids and helping people when and where ever they need me! This internship has let me do that. It got me in my community and helped me see that there a lot of things you can lend a hand in! One of our projects was to help set up and put together writen articals and materials from different time periods about schooling, agriculture, and styles for our schools 100 year reunion. It was really interesting to find outfacts from up to 80 years ago about our community and school from people that have actually lived through it!

Greetings to all! My name is Blenda Cooper and I am from beautiful Colorado. I am a recreational athlete and enjoy all forms of recreation, sports, and fitness. I hold two degrees, one in Exercise Science and the other in Dietetics (Nutrition). I am so excited to participate in this internship because it will allow me to bring greater awareness of other opportunities to obtain healthy food to the families I work with in my community. I am interning with the High Plains Food Coop (HPFC) in marketing. The goal is to get the farmers food deeper into Denver and increase sales. My goal as marketing intern is to bring the urban communities together for a food tasting and/or booth at a Farmers Market to increase awareness and business for HPFC and to educate about farming, urban and rural.

Hello everyone, my name is Keshian Hoeffner I am 16 years old and the intern for the Town of Campo, I work on different things for my community. I chose to apply for this job because I am all about helping my community. I enjoy working with the members of the town and see how the town changes. I have always lived in small rural communities I think that they are the best place and you can learn a lot in them too! I think that everyone should have the chance to live in one and become an intern. This was my first time being one and I truly enjoyed it and learned lots. I hope that I will have another opportunity to be an intern again!

My name is Kathleen Wyly and I grew up in Friona Texas. I am a sophomore Organizational Communications major at Lubbock Christian University. After college I hope to work with nonprofit organizations.

This summer I interned with Ogallala Commons and RC&D in Friona. I had the opportunity to experience many inspiring and different nonprofits during my internship. I was also able to work with the Friona Chamber of Commerce to prepare the Friona�s Cheeseburger Festival. Among such things, I also put together an RC&D newsletter, attended Nazareth�s entrepreneur camp, interviewed many people in the community, and all together received a deeper understanding and appreciation of Friona and rural life.

My name is Kendra Huseman, and I live in Nazareth Texas. I will be a senior next year at Nazareth High School. I have lived in Nazareth all my life. Showing animals is a lot of work but I definitely think it is worth it. My favorite part of showing is going to the major shows in Houston and San Antonio. During my internship I have worked on a number of projects. I created a grid of the cemetery that shows were each grave is located. I have also worked on a map of the city and the area surrounding Nazareth. The final project I have done was a walking tour of Nazareth. I have learned a lot from this internship, and I am really glad that I decided to participate in this program this summer.

Intern Newsletter-7th Issue

2010-07-26T11:14:00.006-05:00

Intern Spotlight

Read All About It

I am Clay Wimmer, I live in Abernathy Texas where I am a Junior in high school. Our family moved back to Texas last summer from Illinois, where we lived for the last 6 years. I enjoy being outside, working with my horse “Rosy” a mustang I adopted and in the process of breaking. I also enjoy Baseball and any outdoor work. While in Illinois I received the rank of Eagle Scout with the Boy Scouts of America. Also I am a hat person you never see me without a cowboy hat, I never leave home without it! I have enjoyed, learned a lot, and met many interesting people being an intern for OC. In Abernathy I am getting to work on two projects at one time, one is making a plan for trees in our community park and second we are renovating an older building in town to encourage businesses to come to Abernathy where I am learning about the job of a contractor.

My name is Carolina Balderas. I was born in Mexico and raised in New Mexico, I lived in Hereford for the past two years. I am a single mom with three little girls. My oldest daughter is seven years old and her name is Stephanie. My other daughter's name is Valerie and she is two years old and my baby's name is Adriana and she is 17 months. I would like to go to college and be a Register Pharmacist or a Computer Technologist. My hobbies include-reading, cooking, biking, and playing with my girls in the park. This summer I look forward to learn new things and ideas. I really enjoy being in this internship because I am eager to learn new things since it is my first time being in a internship. As being part of CASA del Llano staff I have learned computer skills, how to communicate better, and I also learned new activities and new healthy snacks that my little ones would enjoy as much as I did this summer at kids camp at CASA del Llano. Like I said I have enjoyed being at CASA del Llano not only cause of what I have learned but also because I like being around kids that are willing to learn. I wish my oldest daughter was here but unfortunetly she is gone for vacation in New Mexico. Time has passed so fast that I still remember the day we all went to the orientation in Nazareth the first days of June. I wish this internship will last forever because I get to do fun and interesting things in my community but it is sad to say its only temporary. I wish everybody had a good time and learned new things just like I did. God Bless you all.

Hello, I'm Kevin VonFeldt. I'm going to be a junior at Larned High School. At school, I'm on the scholar's bowl team as well as the tennis team. My hobbies include going on bike rides, playing tennis and video games. I also enjoy volunteering at the Santa Fe Trail Center. For my internship, I'm doing oral history interviews with people that used to live at Fort Larned when it was a ranch. This is an important part in the history of the Fort because it was during a window when it was not owned by the government. The people living there maintained the original buildings, making Fort Larned one of the best preserved forts. Hopefully the information and stories I hear can help the Fort employees. Thanks for reading!

Lexi Schwarz is the name, busy is the game and I'm playing it pretty well. This summer I've been in charge of the advertising program with the local Rialto Theatre and also I've been handling their PR and marketing as well.

I've gotten into contact with local advertisers to run spots for our nationally recognized road race (SORC) and also helped the community's Chamber and Economic Development office with compiling databases, writing articles, and maintaining websites.

The knowledge that I've gained through these last three months are worth as much as gold. Not only do I get to learn about things I enjoy and am interested in, but I get to do it in a community that I love too

Intern Newsletter- 6th Issue

2010-07-22T12:12:00.008-05:00

Intern Spotlight

I am Ethan Pruitt. I'm 18 years old and just graduated from Whiteface High School. I'm going to be attending Texas Tech in the fall of 2010 and I will be majoring in Wildlife Management. After getting my degree, I want to be a game warden. Pretty much my whole life I have enjoyed hunting and fishing and I figure that if I can get a job dealing with both of those things then I would be as happy as I'll ever be. I'm also interested in Native American history. Most of my work has been involved playa lakes and how important they are to wildlife. Also, I have been documenting the many natural springs in this area. I have been trying to get onto the land these springs are located on to see them for myself and phptograph them. I have also been studying the history of them and how important they were in Native American life, and also the settling of this area. Anymore, these springs are used for cattle since they are a year round supply round of water but 200 years ago, they were the main lifeline in this area. But what's funny, is not much of the youth around here even know about the springs so I feel like this has been my most important job because upon completing this internship I will be able to share what knowledge I have gained about this area with people around my age and inform them about how important these little known springs were and how much an important part of history they were. This day in age, a lot of smaller communities are rich in history but it's the elderly people who know the history and the younger generations tend not to care as much about it. Or at least it seems to me like they either don't care, or they don't want to put forth the effort to find out. I hope I can bridge that gap to keep the history of Cochran County alive!

I'm Larissa Gardner, an intern for Nazareth, TX. I've been working on the colorful history of this West Texas town. At the end of the summer I will prepare a historical exhibit on the Nazareth Country Rodeo and Wild West Show as well as archive a copy of the history of that 25 year event in the West Texas A and M University's Panhandle Plains Museum. We'll also be working to get it archived in the Southwest Collection in Texas Tech. Another project I'm working on is an historical marker for the Holy Family Cemetery in Nazareth. It's lots of paperwork and digging in old files, but that's the part I love! We're also going to be doing some analysis of the cemetery and putting together a process for making a walking tour of the historically significant markers.

Hey interns! Wow the summer is going by so fast, I can't even believe its almost time for school again. Well for those of you who don't know me my name is Damara dela Fuente. I am 16 and going to be a senior at Hart High School this year and I am so pumped up for it! For the internship what we have been wprking on is getting stuff ready for our town festival known as HART DAYS!!! We have made gorgeous posters and put them up around near by towns to get more people involed, and have been attending the meetings as well. Hart days is going to be a lot of fun this year and y'all should come out and join the fun! It will start July 28th and end July 31. Well I hope y'all are havin as much fun working on this internship as I am!

Intern Newsletter-5th Issue

2010-07-19T22:02:00.006-05:00

Volunteering, A Two Way Street
By: Delissa Villa
Studies have shown that there are many benefits to volunteering. For example:
• Building self-esteem and self-confidence
• Improving health
• Learn or develop skills (United Way 2010)
• Enhance your résumé
This summer each Ogallala Commons intern has been asked to complete 10 or more hours of community service by engaging in a form of volunteerism. Through volunteering in rural communities, we learn not only about the town itself, but also about the people who make the community. As we reap these benefits we should see how volunteering is a two-way street where knowledge, time, effort, and many other things are taken and given. For those that have not yet volunteered, it is time to start your engines and drive along this great two-way street.

Four People, Four States & One Van
By: Clay Wimmer
Recently Texas interns Xavyr Herrera and Clay Wimmer accompanied Darryl Birkenfeld and Julie Boatright on a road trip to the Ogallala Commons Summer Retreat in Atwood, Kansas. The retreat included the board of directors, interns, a few intern supervisors, and the advisory council. The Aberdeen Steakhouse/ Shirley Opera House in Atwood, KS served as headquarters for the retreat. Alice and Jeff Hill, owners of the beautifully restored 100 year old building, fed us well with locally produced meat and vegetables.
Everyone who came in from out of town stayed at the It’ll Do Motel. The first full day in Atwood was spent conducting a Conservation Education Day with local government agencies, an environmental education group and wetland advocates. On Wednesday, we had the main conference and dinner. Also, the interns went to the local grocery store in Atwood and Brewster, KS to talk to the owners about what it takes to run a business in a small town. Then the Texas Crew packed up and headed out. They stopped at Mt. Sunflower, the highest point in Kansas at 4,039 feet.

Intern Spotlight

I'm Savanna Bragg. I am 16 years old, and finally a senior at Tulia High School. I am very active in school, and my passions are running, photography, watching/shooting motocross, and God. I'm a very determined girl, and I love being a leader. I am so grateful for this internship because I have learned so much this summer, and I wish I could learn this much about what I want to do in the future year-round! My internship has been based off of what I want to do as a career, and for me that is Photography/Photojournalism, or the Public Relations/ Communications. I have been set up to work at a different place every week, so I haven't been bored yet! I have worked with the Public Relations department at Swisher Memorial Hospital, Memory Maker( a photography studio here in Tulia), Samantha Lange ( who is a private photographer), Swisher County News, Texas Agri-Life Extension Office, and the Chamber of Commerce. I believe that I have contributed to Swisher County the most by writing articles in the Swisher County News. Sometimes the community needs a youth’s point of view on some things and I hope I can provide that in a positive way!

My name is Alejandra Chavarria, I am 17 years old. I was born in Hobbs, NM but currently live in Hart, TX. I will be a senior this upcoming school year. I enjoy soccer and art. I love listening to all types of music. I am in National Honor Society, FCCLA, and Student Council.
Although I have lived in Hart for the past four years, I have also lived in Indiana, New Mexico and in Chihuahua, Mx. I move around a lot due to my dads job, which is at the dairy. He is currently the manager and vet at Vanderham Dairy.
This internship is helping me in so many areas. First, it has helped me to be less shy through opportunities to speak in public settings. Also, it is helping me to be involved with the community, which is something I have always wanted. I really enjoy helping people out, it makes me feel great about to do this type of work, and I think that is the reason why it makes it difficult to work with the community a lot. Hopefully by my next year will be easier and a lot more people at our community will take the opportunity to ask us for help.
My internship has been about tutoring students in summer school, so they can hopefully be able to pass to the next grade. I also helped with the preparation of the Jamaica for the St. John Catholic Church. We hope to make a school garden as well and possible be able to start a "Meals on Wheels" program. I will also be helping with the annual Hart Days which will be the last Saturday and Sunday of July. As you can see, we don't have just one project that we are focusing on, we are just helping in everything we can. I look forward to this internship and hope many more activities come up so we can help.

Allison Dunbar-As a rising sophomore majoring in environmental engineering at Georgia Tech in Atlanta, my Amarillo internship with the High Plains Food Bank Community Garden has been an ideal fit. Between working at the community Garden and on my Father’s Farm, Cimarron Organics, I have acquired an intense farmer’s tan. I wear it proudly, though, knowing my efforts help provide healthy food for over 450 young kids suffering from food insecurities through the Kids Café program and aid in my family’s farm. Though Amarillo is different from Atlanta in size and diversity, I have found an outlet to my stresses by attending various music gigs at The 806 coffee shop. This artsy, bicycle-riding bunch with off market mind frames reminds me of home in the best of ways. Garden labor and rare bicycle rides take care of my working out needs and learning of various eco-agricultural techniques has fed my thirst of knowledge. This summer has been thrilling, time crunched, challenging, and wonderful in every aspect. I am very thankful to be a part of such a community-enriching program and look forward to seeing how things progress over the years.

Intern Newsletter- 4th Issue

2010-07-15T19:05:00.005-05:00

Local Home Food Growers event in Tulia, TX. (Left) Director Darryl Birkenfeld and Interns build raised bed. (Right)

Local Foods
By Kevin Sanders
Local Food production improves agricultural capacity by supplying produce, legumes, and whole grains where residents live. This has the potential to improve population health as well as the local economy. Living near food sources, i.e., urban gardening has several practical advantages over shipped and processed food. Growing locally reduces energy consumption that would otherwise transport the food. Urban gardens can utilize sun and rainwater, resources which are available and sustainable. Proximity also equates to freshness, and home or community grown food can be free of agricultural chemicals. Many residential and commercial properties host plants of some kind, whether a lawn, trees, or flowers… next planting season, consider adding edible plants. There are so many fruits and vegetables to choose from, but everyone has their personal favorites. Discover or recollect which garden fare your family enjoys, and get together on your own local food project, the backyard (or front-lawn) garden.

Intern Spotlight

Xavyr Herrera- I am an upcoming senior at Shallowater High School. I am an active student and also the student leader for service learning. I also participate in auto mechanics in
skills USA. I play football for the Shallowater Mustangs and I also do power lifting. During the school year I enjoy volunteeringat the local Boys and Girls club. My hobbies are listening to music, hanging out with my friends, and drawing. One of our projects that I have enjoyed and learned a lot from has been the All Class Reunion. Shallowater just recently had 100 years of education. To celebrate; we had a reunion and every class was invited from 1909 to present day. Preparing for the reunion I had to clean and set up showcases and a school building from the 1940’s. I learned a lot about Shallowater’s history and how far technology has come since then.

Shancee Howell- Wow, I cannot believe this summer is escaping like it is! Well, my name is Shancee Howell, and I am currently an intern for the Greeley County Development Center in Tribune, Kansas. So far I have had a blast working in this office, and thoroughly enjoy seeing the benefits that this office provides our community. One of the projects that we will be busy with this summer is working on our theater. It is so nice that we have this available to such a small community like ours, but our poor theater suffered from lack of renovation. On October 2, 2007, the project began of improving our theater. And it is absolutely amazing to see the difference, so now that we have the main part done, it’s time for the final touches. Therefore, we are going to work hard to make it a success because the theater is a community-owned facility, owned and operated for the enjoyment of Greeley County residents.

Scarlett Olsen- I live in Burdett Kansas, a very small town. I am 16 and I will be a junior at Pawnee Heights High School this coming year. I play volleyball and like to run track! I am in the schools KAY’s group and also in 4-H. I enjoy doing lots of activities in 4-H and am busy at the moment with plenty of fair projects! Out of all my 4-H projects I enjoy photography the most. My favorite thing in the world to do is go to our cabin in Pitkin, Colorado and ride dirt bikes in the mountain trails! I like to hunt with my oldest brother and would rather be doing something productive outside than anything inside! For my internship I am collecting oral history of the Fort Larned National Historic Site, before it was a National Historic Site! I am interviewing people who lived or worked around or at the Fort during the Farming period. The Farming period was the time when most Forts were neglected and began to fall apart. Since people were living and working at the Fort, the buildings were very well preserved. I hope to find lots of helpful information for the staff at the Fort and hope to learn a lot for myself!

Sharing the Products of an Internship
By Julie Boatright

The halfway point in the 2010 Summer Community Internship Program signals time to begin preparing for the close of your internship. Soon we will send out pocket folders to all of you. You should put your name on the front of the folder, along with the organization you are working with, your supervisor and the dates of your internship. Inside the folder, we would like a copy of items that you have produced or helped with throughout your internship. This includes flyers, brochures and other informational documents as well as a CD with photographs or videos taken throughout the summer. Each item in the folder should be accompanied with a short description (3-6 sentences) about the particular item and what your contribution was to it.
You will need to turn your folders into the nearest OC Intern Coordinator. You may do this in person or by mail. These folders and the items they include will be used to share with your supervisors, community and others about the work you have done and the experience you have gained through the internship program.

Harvesting Wrapping Up Your Internship
By Darryl Birkenfeld

In Ogallala Commons country, this is the season of wheat harvest—a touchstone in any rural community, whether in Kansas, Texas, Colorado or Nebraska. No matter what efforts it took to bring about plowing, planting, or grazing times…harvest season is the payoff that our families and hometowns yearn to achieve. Similar to wheat harvest, we have added a Harvesting Ceremony to this summer’s OC Community Internships. Just like farmer families are doing with the wheat crop, we are requiring all OC interns to gather up the products they have produced during their internships (refer to specifics in Julie’s article). This is the personal part of the Harvesting process. There is also a public aspect…this requires that supervisors work with their interns to schedule a public event where the interns can tell the story of their internship and display the products that were produced. For example, in mid to late July, or the first week of August, an intern could be scheduled to give a 20 to 30-minute program at a public meeting. The meeting can be a monthly civic club gathering, an Economic Development Corporation meeting, a County Commissioner Court, or some event where community members as well as your intern investment partners can be present. Again, this is something that the intern and the supervisor should arrange and schedule…and then let Simone Cahoj, our OC Intern Coordinator, know the date and time. In preparation for this meeting, we recommend that the intern design a Powerpoint presentation, a poster that would allow people to “see and experience” the highlights of your internship. It also important to write a one-page overview of your internship, then turn it into a press release and send it to the local newspaper, so more people can experience the fruits of your Harvesting Ceremony. Harvesting would not exist without soil preparation, seed planting, care of the crop, etc. But harvesting is amazing in the way that it knits everything together. Community Internships offer the same promise—they can serve to knit communities together and give residents a energy boost and a sense of pride. That is why we need interns and supervisors to schedule their Harvesting Ceremony soon.

Intern Newsletter- 3rd Issue

2010-07-15T18:55:00.004-05:00

Summer Interns Blog Away
By Simone Cahoj
Until last year, I had no idea what blogging was, but I have quickly learned about the world of blogging. Blog is short for weblog, a log of what you do, see, and think written and posted right there on the Web. Blogs are great for learning and connecting with people in many different areas. Because of their ability to connect people in many different locations and provide quick feedback, we set up the Ogallala Commons’ intern blogs.
As mentioned in last week’s newsletter, although none of you are doing the exact same thing, there are common threads that link you. By blogging you can learn from each other while discovering new things about yourself. Having the blog is also important in giving the supervisors and board of directors and advisors real time updates on the different projects you are doing. Before blogging, the board of directors and advisors would have to wait until the end of the summer to read through long journals kept by the interns. Now all of these people can follow along with the interns’ projects throughout the summer.
Now that I’ve reminded you why blogging is important, I’m going to give you a few pointers about what needs to be included in your blog.

• Write about your week, your project and what you’re learning.
• Take the time to think about how your actions are impacting your community.
• “A picture’s worth a thousand words.” - include at least two pictures.
• Photos, logos, brochures and fliers are acceptable.
• Proofread your entries before you post them. Don’t blog like you text, use spell and grammar check!

After you’ve written your awesome weekly post using these helpful hints, remember to read and comment on your group members’ posts. Leaving comments on each other’s blogs is a great way to network and learn, and it lets the writer know that their post is being read. Also, don’t forget to check back in on your previous posts because the comments left often include questions or advice that will be helpful. Hopefully with this refresher course on blogging, we’ll continue to read about the projects you are all working so hard on. So Ogallala Commons summer interns, blog away!

Intern Spotlight

Emma Cress -My home base for the Ogallala Commons internship is Wallace County, Kansas. Over the summer months I’ll be working with my county’s economic development office, as well as a local non-profit community foundation. Recently, I’ve been working to develop a greater awareness of the foundation and its projects. Each year in December,
the foundation hosts a community-wide Christmas bash that celebrates the great things local charitable organizations are doing. At this event, a Volunteer of the Year award is presented to a community member that has dedicated his or herself to serving the local residents in an outstanding way. In addition to some party planning for this year’s bash, I’ve also had the opportunity to write a feature article for our local newspaper about the recipient of last year’s award. It’s been a great way to show gratitude to local volunteers while gaining publicity for community foundation.

DeLesa Perez- I am the eighteen year; old daughter of Aurelia and Agustin Perez Jr. from Hart TX. I recently graduated from Hart High School and will be attending West Texas A&M University in Canyon Texas this fall. This is my second summer to participate in an Ogallala Commons Internship and I love it. I have learned many things about our community that I would have never learned without these internships. This summer I have worked with our parish Jamaica, our annual Hart Days festivities, doing some oral interviews, building raised beds, and many more things. This is just a few things about me. Maybe you will see me working around your community in the future.

Daniel Ramos- I'm 17 years old, and will be a Senior at Dimmitt High School (TX) this upcoming fall. I am planning to be in BPA (Business Professionals of America), PALs (Partner Assisted Leaders), and I am to going to run cross country again. We made it to regionals as a team last year... hopefully we make it to state this upcoming year.
I was born in Valle De Allende, Chihuahua, Mexico. I was raised in Hereford, Texas and my parents and I moved to Dimmitt to be closer to work. I have had fun living here, but I think there is a better place waiting for me out there. My family and I came illegally to the United States and just recently got our legal residency this year. It took us a year and a half for all the paper work and all the waiting we had to do, but it was worth it. In my internship, I am gathering and documenting the history of the Azteca Apartment. They were apartments for migrant workers, but today they stand out as single family housing in a beautiful neighborhood. I am also creating a digital photo archive for the Italian P.O.W. Chapel three miles south of Hereford, TX. I planted my first garden at the Azteca Apartment (See photo), we planted lettuce, arugula, New Zealand Spinach, jalapenos, cucumbers, and tomatoes

Learning and Sharing Stories
by Julie Boatright
The tradition of passing down stories in families and communities is a long-standing one and a valuable method of preserving our history. Think about the stories you have heard from your parents, grandparents, teachers or others in your community. They usually offer insight to how the place where you lived was formed, and developed-- and what the people in the community did for work, church, entertainment and other social activities.
The development and increased use of television, computers, iPods, and busy schedules have imposed upon story telling time and some of the most interesting tales of our places are being lost. As community interns, we work to find and capture these stories. We also help to find ways to share these stories with others so that we may all learn from and enjoy hearing our history. Throughout your internship I hope that you keep your eyes and ears open for these stories and that you document them through oral history interviews, photographs and flip camera video. Most importantly, find a way to share these stories in your community.
For examples of great documentary stories, visit www.thisamericanlife.org. This American Life is a radio show that captures everyday stories and makes them entertaining and interesting.

Intern Orientation Shows Profound Theme
By Megan England

On May 26th, 2010, several of Ogallala Commons’ 2010 interns met in Atwood, Kansas, for two amazing days of meeting new people, learning new things, and brainstorming new ideas to better their communities.
The interns began their time with meetings to learn exactly what their internships would be about. They learned about Key Experiences of their internships, and also about the Key Assets of Ogallala Commons communities. Then they learned how to blog about their internships. (See ogallalaintern.blogspot.com). After learning what their jobs were, the interns met with their supervisors to discuss work plans. They finished out the day with a dinner tour of the Aberdeen Steakhouse and a bowling excursion to Tommy’s Bowling Alley.
The next day was spent touring Atwood, Bird City, and St. Francis. Stops along the way included a dental clinic, newspaper, Bird City Century II Foundation, and many more! At each stop, the interns noticed how all of the tour guides had one thing in common—the knowledge that life in rural areas is not easy, but with perseverance, anything is possible!
Sharing stories of success through hardship is a great way to make a community realize its power, so interns, here is a challenge. Encourage your local entrepreneurs to collaborate with you on a tour outline showing how they got where they are today. It doesn’t have to be long, but you might notice a common theme as the other interns did, and you’ll be surprised by the encouraging influence they have on others!

Intern Newsletter-2nd Issue

2010-07-15T18:41:00.006-05:00

Simone Cahoj wearing last summer’s intern T-Shirt

One Size Doesn’t Fit All By Simone Cahoj
As community interns, we can say that we at least have one thing in common. We’re all working for the survival of our rural communities on the High Plains. This, as you will see throughout the summer, will take many different forms; one “size” internship does not work for everyone. One of the most exciting things about Ogallala Commons’ community-based internships is that no two interns will be doing the exact same work. Some of you will be working on specific one-time events while others are starting new programs that will continue to benefit their community in the future. Each of you is called to do projects that best serve your community’s needs. Through the internship blogs, you are able to learn about each others’ projects and even get inspired by what other communities are doing and “try” their projects on for size. As the summer ends, you will be able to move forward with greater knowledge and many unique experiences to assist you in your future career endeavors. Your internship will set you apart no matter what path you pursue. Another memento that you will be able to take with you from this summer will be an Ogallala Commons intern t-shirt! These t-shirts will be coming in by the beginning of next week! I hope you’re all excited to see these fun t-shirts designed by our very own Julie Boatright! When you’ve finished your internship, I hope you all wear your t-shirts with pride and are able to share many great stories about Ogallala Commons and your internship experiences! Remember that we’re all in this together, even though one size doesn’t fit all!

Intern Spotlight

Sydney Busse -I am the OC Intern for Bird City in Cheyenne County, Kansas. This is my second summer interning with Ogallala Commons. Many of my projects for the summer focus on entrepreneurship, primarily among the youth.
With that in mind, this week I am planning an entrepreneurship day camp for 4th-8th graders in the community. The day camp will be held next Tuesday and Wednesday, and will incorporate local businesses, winners of last year’s high school E-fair, discussion about community service and my internship, and lots of hands-on activities. Through this project, I hope to teach kids what entrepreneurship is, and promote the importance of small towns. I want them to know that they can stay in our hometown and be successful when they grow up; they don’t have to leave. So far, I have about 10 kids signed up, and it looks to be a fun couple of days.

Thomas Edwards- I was raised in Tulia from the age of 2. I am now 18 years old and getting ready to start my sophomore year at Asbury University in Wilmore Kentucky. Music Is my life. I was a percussionist in Tulia and went on to major in percussion for a semester at West Texas A&M, but God called me to Asbury to major in Worship Arts, which means I am studying worship-- both the theological and practical parts. I plan on becoming a worship pastor when I graduate. Due to my passion for music, I was set up through this internship to help lead an event in Tulia we call Music on Maxwell. This event is the week of our town's annual birthday celebration. This is an amazing opportunity for me. I have met many people and learned more about the local music scene then ever before. I also have the ability to apply my knowledge of music to this event. I can't say enough about being able to help to grow the community that made me who I am today.

Megan England- I call Baca County, Colorado, my stomping ground. I’ll be working my eight weeks as an Ogallala Commons intern with two entities; the Baca County Economic Development Commission (BCEDC) and the Town of Campo.
I think the most unique activities I’m helping with so far are Business Appreciations through BCEDC. It’s not easy to run any kind of business in rural areas and with that in mind, the BCEDC is hosting two business appreciation days. One is for a local Café/Gift Shop. On that day, the BCEDC Board and interns will be hosting a drawing for $50 of merchandise while helping at the business, whether we’re washing dishes or waiting tables! The next is a “treasure hunt” through various yard sales to raise funds and show appreciation for the hospital district. These events are a great way to get involved in the community, and it’s been fun planning them this past week!

Supervisors: A Key Ingredient for Internships
by Darryl Birkenfeld, Director, Ogallala Commons

Nearly everyone's life story contains evidence of a good teacher who helped to unlock some hidden treasure in us. Much of what we have come to know and love has happened because of what we were given by a mentor or trusted guide. The same is true for successful community internships. Certainly, a motivated, passionate intern is the starting point... and we know there has to be community partners or institutions ready to invest project ideas and provide funding for an internship. But a third crucial element is a committed supervisor. Currently, there are 30 Ogallala Commons Community Interns working on value-adding projects in counties and towns in Colorado, Kansas, and Texas. You can read about their adventures and see photos depicting their projects (just visit www.ogallalaintern.blogspot.com). But alongside of each intern is a supervisor who is advising, drafting a work schedule, monitoring and checking in on progress, trouble-shooting difficulties, and striving to serve as a teacher. These two dozen or so supervisors already have plenty of responsibilities with their full-time jobs, but they give extra time to work with interns because they believe in young people and carry a hope that their communities are good places for new careers and new families. So to all the intern supervisors, please know that the quiet work you are investing is making a huge difference for our interns. In fact, there would be no internships taking place without each of you. We hope that when you read their blogs and see the photos that you will feel a sense of pride and joy...knowing that a new set of doors are being opened because you agreed to undertake this mission.
We have a special request to ask of our Intern Supervisors. Please be on the lookout in your community and region for intern candidates for 2011. Maybe that talented high school or college student could return to do a second internship next year. Or maybe there is a teacher or an adult in your communities that has passion and skills to work on a couple of projects for a summer or a semester internship...and add great value to your hometowns. Identifying and recruiting prospective interns is key step in developing effective community internships...and we hope we can have your help in finding future interns.

There’s No Education Like Public Speaking
By Delissa Villa

On June 16th I gave a 20 minute presentation to the Tulia Rotary Club at El Camino Restaurant. I was invited by Martha Rocha to speak about my study abroad experience in Spain, community internship, and future planes. Before and during, the presentation many questions came to mind. Am I dressed appropriately? Am I projecting my voice? Will I forget one of my main topics? Questions come to mind through public speaking, since it can be nerve racking to stand alone in front of an audience. However, through public speaking opportunities, Ogallala Commons interns can enhance public speaking skills and educate our communities. We educate our communities by speaking to different organizations, businesses, and clubs on how our internships are impacting the community in positive ways. By speaking to the Rotary, I was able to open the door to the members of my community to learn about my specific internship and see how positive outcomes will be achieved.

Intern Newsletter-Issue 1

2010-07-15T10:46:00.014-05:00

2010 Texas Interns pose for a photo in front of the rock jail building in Silverton, Texas (left) … Part of the two day intern orientation on June 3 & 42010 Texas Interns board tour bus in Nazareth (right).

Exploring and Beginning “The Place”
Greetings Interns, OC Board & Advisers, and anyone following our Community Internships!
My name is Delissa Villa. I am interning for my second summer in this program, and this time around I am focusing on projects that build capacity for Ogallala Commons. One of my jobs is creating an electronic newsletter about OC Community Internships. I hope to make it a weekly edition for the next 8 weeks Following on Julie Boatright's suggestion, we are calling our newsletter: The Place. As community interns, one of the seven skills we will gain over the course of our work is “discovering our place.” Discovering place means learning about the people, places, customs, stories, history, and the natural world around us. This will involve working with many people, and my intent is that this newsletter will provide us with knowledge and tools for our discovery process. In general, the Ogallala Commons region...extending from the Front Range near Denver, CO where Jordan is working - all the way to the Midwest prairies where Simone is going to school in Lawrence, KS...and from Lexi's western Nebraska country all the way south past where Ethan lives in Whiteface, TX. Each week, I will ask different interns for a short write-up about their work and experiences in a feature called: Intern Spotlight. Even though we have the Intern Blogs, this newsletter will offer one more tool to allow our communities, Ogallala Commons Board & Advisers, OC interns, and others to get to know us. To follow up on the interns blog go to: http://www.ogallalaintern.blogspot.com/

Intern Spotlight

Julie Boatright became an intern for Ogallala Commons on January 4th and will finish up on July 1. Her six-month internship is part of the requirement for completing her Master's in Science degree at Texas Tech University. Boatright's course of study at Tech is in Heritage Management. A key element of Boatright's internship has been the design of seating and interpretive panels for the Ogallala Commons Playa Classroom in Nazareth, Texas. Boatright worked closely with experts on playa wetlands, designers, and fabricators to transform the "outdoor classroom" into a unique and educational site that allows for an opportunity to touch, see and explore a prairie wetland. The grand opening of the Playa Classroom was on June 8, 2010, attracting funders, teachers and many summer interns to be the first to experience the place. The photo posted above shows Julie accepting a $10,000 grant check from the Xcel Energy Foundation, which will be used to fund OC Playa Education work in the Texas Panhandle-South Plains and Eastern New Mexico…a nice culmination to her internship work. Julie Boatright has accepted an offer to continue working with Ogallala Commons as the organization’s Education Coordinator. She will graduate with her Masters degree on August 7th.

Delissa Villa-Elderly and young come together for an exercise program called Texercise That I started in Tulia, TX, as a way of doing my volunteer hours. The idea came from my passion of dancing and wanting to do something for the community. So I thought, “what better way to be active with my community then to have an exercise program”. The 1 hour classes Mondays, Wednesday, and Fridays are directed towards the elderly but all ages are invited to participate. During the classes we focus on three main things endurance, balance, and strength. We have a great time working out to 50’s all the way to 90’s music.

Orientation Evokes Passion for the Community
Interns from Kansas, Nebraska, and Colorado gathered for an Intern Orientation on May 26-27 in Atwood, KS. At the end of the first day, the group had the opportunity to take a tour with Alice Hill, owner of Aberdeen Steakhouse in Atwood. OC Intern Coordinatior, Simone Cahoj explained how, “the interns learned about the importance of perseverance and passion for rural community development and survival from the tour of the steakhouse and historic Shirley Opera House.” On the second day of the Orientation, the group hit the road to visit with local business owners in different communities in Northwest Kansas. These business owners shared their stories which included economical and ethical advice.

Playa Sightseeing
Armed with binoculars, field guides, and sunblock, the Texas interns participated in a tour of 4 communities along a section of State Highway 86 starting from Nazareth and ending in Turkey. The Interns visited a wet playa in Tulia, which was a great experience, especially those seeing a playa for the first time. Director of Ogallala Commons, Darryl Birkenfeld, guided interns, showing them what to look for on a playa. A special treat was the numerous American Avocets (a common Plains shorebird) that were seen. At the end, interns shared their thoughts and reflections about the day. Many expressed a greater appreciation for nature.

Julie Boatright, Final Post

2010-06-28T17:12:00.012-05:00

I can not believe this will be my final post. I have become accustomed to reflecting weekly about my experiences at Ogallala Commons.
Last week I completed my Comprehensive Examinations at school (Comprehensive Exams = Gruelling 3 days of written tests (my answers averaged 13 pages for each day) + A 45 minute presentation about my internship with Ogallala Commons + an oral testing session consisting of difficult questions and a test of gumption and defensive abilities)
It was an exhausting week, but I did it! I now have a Master of Science in Heritage Management from Texas Tech University!!!
I thought for this final post, I would share bits of my final presentation.
My internship at Ogallala Commons kept me hopping! Here is a brief listing of things that it involved:

¡Conducting Conservation Education Days
I helped to put on 5 of these. Their purpose was to provide education about playa wetlands, their ecological services, and learning opportunities as well as educate participants about eh link bwteen playas and recharge of the Ogalalla Aquifer and to offer information about federa programs for playa conservation. Particpants at these events included teachers, landowners, and government agencies.

Tulia Conservation Education Day (Dave Haukos is Presenting)

¡Creating Educational Materials
Throughout my internship, I created educational materials with the purpose fo providing educators with tools to teach students about local natural and cultural heritage. Materials included: lessons plans, resource guides, reading lists, web resources and playa trunk materials.

¡Local Foods Day
Part of the mission of Ogallala Commons is to restore local food production and one way we do that is through education awareness and promoting health and wellness. On Saturday, May 8th I particpated in "La Comida Es Vida," a local foods education day at Harwell Elementary in Lubbock.

¡21st Annual Southern Plains Conference & Board Meeting
On April 14th, Ogallala held it's 21st Southern Plains Conferece in Lubbock. It commerated the 75th anniversary of Black Sunday, looking back at the dust bowl to more clearly understand what ecoloical, economic, and soical conditions are again massing to ignite a 21st Century Dust Bowl and what practices we can enact to counter or mitigate another series of Black Sundays. The event included Photography, Music, Literature, Practitioners and History presenations. (Including a rephotography presenation by Me!)

¡Website Development
The official Ogallala Commons website was a big part of my internship. Visit it at www.ogallalacommons.org.

¡Abernathy Playa Festival
In May we conducted a playa festival in Abernathy Texas. We educated 5th grade students, their teachers and community about the high plains water-cycle through hands-on experience. This was done through collaboration with the NRCS, Hale County Extension, the South Plains Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, Jim Stiert and Dave Haukos. It was a busy two days!

¡Tours of Knox and Foard Counties
Darryl and I were treated to a whirlwind 2-day tour of Knox and Foard Counties with OC Board Member Remelle Farrar. We learned about the people in those communities who are making their place thrive.

¡Designing Interpretive Panels & Completing work on and grand opening of the Playa Classroom
This project consumed much of my time and is something that I am extremely proud of. We completed and installed 5 interpretive panels, a xeric garden, two rainwater harvesting tanks, a chalk board and cabinets and seating. It is a place to touch, see and experience a prairie wetland. I put my heart and soul into the Playa Classroom and I hope visitors to the site have a wonderful experience.

¡Working with Ogallala Commons Community Interns
I thoroughly enjoyed working with the many other community interns. I hope all the readers of this blog check out what the 31 summer interns are up to (see links on upper right hand side of this page.)
¡Public Presentations
I got my fill of public presenations during this internship. I hope that my presenation skills have grown and I think the colony of butterflies that rise up in my stomach before each presenation has decreased from a million to only a couple of hundred. I especially enjoyed the presenation at the Western Heritage Museum in Hobbs, NM.

¡Development and Production of brochures, flyers, blogs, etc.
As part of this internship I created 3 brochures, 5 flyers, 4 power point presentations, a 31 page educator guide, many handouts, agendas, stickers and invitations, a t-shirt and a couple of maps! I took hundreds of photographs and helped develop the Summer Intern newsletter.

I had a wonderful experience through my internship. I feel like I have grown as a professional, an educator and as a human being. I am grateful to my supervisor, Darryl Birkenfeld, for this opportunity and for his time, dedication and effort to making my experience a valuable one. As a result of my intern ship I was offered an opportunity to continue working with Ogallala commons, I am offically the Education Coordinator and I can't wait to see what is around the corner! Thank You Darryl!

Julie Boatright, Community Service Blog

2010-06-28T16:50:00.007-05:00

One of my favorite aspects of the Ogallala Commons Community Intern program is community service. Each intern is required to complete a minimum of 10 hours community service in order to receive their final stipend payment. I chose to do my service at the South Plains Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Lubbock.

The SPWRC is located at 95th and Indiana Avenue in Lubbock

Every Wednesday this summer I have worked at the SPWRC from 9am to 12pm as the "mom" to the junior volunteers. The junior volunteers are kids aged 12-17 who are selected by the Center to work throughout the summer. We do all kinds of things like food preparations for the center's many residents and patients, clean up (all that food prep is messy, not to mention all of the things that go along with injured, orphaned or ill wildlife) and we feed baby birds, ducklings, Percy the Pelican and others.

Hungry Baby Birds are... always hungry! Volunteers feed
these youngsters every 30 minutes from sunrise to sunset.

On the first Saturday of June I helped, along with the junior volunteers, to entertain 500 visitors to the annual Open House event. We painted faces, dissected owl pellets, played "BIRDO" - a feathered version of BINGO -and educated about bird feathers and nests. The weather was hot, but we had a shady place, lots of water and plenty of company to keep us busy. The event was a huge success, raising over $2,000 for the SPWRC.

These "BIRDO" game cards were a big hit at the Open House

I will continue volunteering on Wednesday mornings throughout the summer and look forward to next summer as well!
Two Junior Interns Pose with Percy the Pelican! Percy broke his wing several years ago, because the injury healed funny he is unable to fly and has become a permanent resident at the SPWRC. He is quite a character - one day while washing out his pool he pulled my hair with his beak!

Julie Boatright, Week 24

2010-06-20T20:49:00.004-05:00

Teachers enjoying the Playa Classroom

Playa Education has been, and will continue to be, a big part of my work. The Playa Classroom has been officially open for a few weeks now and, from reports by Darryl, I have learned that it is attracting folks to stop in and have a look around. Thanks to Burr Williams of the Sibley Nature Center, PLJV, and the Amarillo Globe News, news is spreading. We even had an inquiry from some folks in Pennsylvania!
Support for the Playa Classroom and Ogallala Commons other Playa Education efforts is growing as well. In addition to the funding received to construct the facility, on the day of the grand opening, XCEL presented a check for $10,000, and over the last 6 months several SWCDs (Soil and Water Conservation Districts) have chipped in to ensure that this work will continue in schools throughout the region.
So, if you are unfamiliar with playas two questions might spring to mind. 1. What is the big deal about playas? and 2. Why support our efforts to teach people about them?
To the first question, I would say: Playas are the premiere natural feature of the Great Plains. They are rich in life - birds, insects, plants - which would not exist in our region without them. Playas are to the Southern Great Plains what rivers, lakes, mountains, and forests are other regions of the world. And, as with rivers, lakes, mountains and forests, our lives are impacted daily by them - whether or not we realize it. Also, they are connected to our water supply - the mighty Ogallala Aquifer. They are flood control and they are excellent for recreational activities. Last, but not least, 90% of all playas in the world are right here. Imagine if 90% of all the rivers, lakes mountains, or forests in the world were in the Great Plains?
In addition to that, Playas are disappearing. Their value is underestimated or has been forgotten by the very people who are affected most by them. There are no laws protecting them. There are no people chaining themselves in front of them to save them - the plants, animals, birds and aquifer suffer silently - disappearing is the only indication they can give us that something should be done. This brings me to answering question #2. Let me start by saying that I do not plan on chaining myself to a playa or causing a ruckous and neither does anyone involved with Ogallala Commons. The most effective tool in conservation is education. If we can show the importance, diversity, and wonder of playas to folks far and wide - values will shift. Knowledge is power and appreciation inspires care. It is my deepest wish is that I will be able to share both.
Darryl, appreciating the playa

Week 22 & 23, Julie Boatright

2010-06-11T12:35:00.007-05:00

My internship is coming to a close, but my schedule has not slackened. In fact, it has been a very busy couple of weeks. Last week we held orientation for all of the new summer interns in the Texas Panhandle. They are a great group of kids and if you are interested, you can see all of their blogs. Links to each of the 6 blog groups are located on the right side of the screen. The orientation included a trip to Silverton, Texas where we learned interesting facts about the town, lunch in Turkey, Texas and a tour of Caprock Canyon State Park.

Me at Caprock Canyon State Park!

Intern Tour in Front of Silverton Jail

This week has been an eventful one as well. On Tuesday we held the Grand Opening of the Playa Classroom in Nazareth. All kinds of great people came. During the morning we held a training session for local teachers which included a nature walk with Burr Williams at the Classroom, building a Kestral house with Terry Hanszack of the NRCS, journaling instruction from me and loads of other information. After a wonderful lunch of local food (sauerkraut and sausage mmmm), several more folks showed up for the main event.
For the first time, I got to see real people - lots of them- enjoying the space. For months I have been looking at digital models of people in a digital model of the classroom, but this was real and it was amazing!

Many of representatives from orgainizations that help to fund the building of the Playa Classroom were in attendance. Xcel came with a check for Playa Education for $10,000 and presented it to Ogallala Commons - it was by far the largest check I have ever held!
It was a great experience and I am so grateful to have been a part of it!

Seven Key Skills Tour in Kansas!

2010-06-09T09:00:00.003-05:00

A few of the interns that attended the orienation in Atwood have beat me to describing what they learned while on the tour, but I going to take this opportunity to describe in detail the tour stops.

We started off the morning by visiting the Rawlins County Dental Clinic, which was actually one of the projects I worked on during one of my internships! Dental Clinic CEO/Manager Heidi Foster spoke about the work that went into establishing the clinic and why it is so important for not only Atwood but also many of the rural communities in the Northwest Kansas area. The clinic serves patients that many other dental clinics don't cover or won't serve as well as offering dental services in area schools. Heidi told the interns the importance of getting key community members to back your project and that will help get the whole community on board.

Our next stop was at the Rawlins County Square Deal to meet with Tara Fields. Tara told her story of how she discovered her sense of place back in her hometown of Atwood. To read her editorial relating to this go here. I think this stop was especially inspiring because first off, discovering sense of place is possibly the most difficult of the seven key skills to understand; Tara really helped to put the idea into perspective. Second, all of our interns in attendace at the Atwood Orientation were young women! Hearing how another young woman discovered her place in her rural hometown is certainly inspiring for me so I hope that as these community interns work in their hometowns this summer they remember Tara's message and story. This stop was also great because Tara took time to "interview" the interns and find out about their passion for their communities, work they'll be doing this summer, and career goals.

Tara explaining how the Square Deal operates and the changes that have been made and those things which will continue to be improved.

Lexi Schwarz telling Tara about her summer work and life in Arnold, Nebraska. Her story certainly was entertaining by the looks on everyone's face! :)

We then headed west on highway 36 to a little place outside of St. Francis, Prairie House Herbs. There we enjoyed a lunch of bierocks from Becky's Bierocks . We also enjoyed herbal lemonade made from many different lemon herbs grown right there at Prairie House Herbs. Both Prairie House Herbs and Becky's Bierocks are members of the High Plains Food Cooperative . While at Prairie House Herbs, the interns learned about how the cooperative functions as well as the importance of raising food naturally. We received a tour of Prairie House Herbs by part owner Laura Reeser, whose sister was one of the people leading the formation of the High Plains Food Cooperative.

Laura showed the interns their green house where they have a few plants started for the High Plains Food Coop such as lettuce and tomatoes. We also saw many of the herbs that they frequently sell and use to make their dried herb mixes.

Next we headed back to Bird City where Cathy Domsch, Executive Director of the Bird City Century II Foundation, spoke to the interns. Cathy informed the interns about the history of the Foundation and all of the projects that the community foundation has worked on. For such a small community, Bird City has many opportunities to thrive thanks to the community foundation. Again it was mentioned that it would be difficult to get many things done if it weren't for the support of key community members. Another repeated message that we heard from pretty much every single stop and the foundation was no exception is that: living in rural areas and making positive changes happen is not an easy task and it takes people that are passionate about the community and perserverant to make it happen. And in the end the hard work of community development is worth it!

The last stop was at Monty's Smoked Jerky. Monty's is a gourmet type of beef jerky and is made right in Bird City, Kansas. We toured the facilities and then of course got to taste test the jerky!

Although it was short and sweet, I thought the intern tour was very successful! I learned things I'd never known about my own community and was inspired to work even harder to help my community survive. I know this was the feeling many of the interns left with as well after our reflections at the end of the day!

I wish all of the interns the best as they discover their place in their hometowns this summer.

Week 21, Julie boatright

2010-06-01T17:03:00.007-05:00

The playa classroom is almost finished! On Friday, Rhiley and I went to Nazareth to work on a little garden at the front of the classroom and to watch Garrison Brothers install the interpretive panels all about playas! It was amazing to see the giant squares and reflective metal panels go up - I had been staring at them on my computer screen for so long and now here they were - four feet by five feet. The classroom, if I do say so myself, is pretty darn cool. If you were to visit, you would learn the basics of playas, enjoy a leisurely and educational stroll around a prairie wetland and sit on lovely benches to take in the view. You could also check out a couple of 1000 gallon rainwater harvesting tanks and a little xeric garden.
We have all been to a state park or a roadside wildlife viewing area, but the Playa Classroom is different. It is a place to learn about a landscape feature that we pass by all the time. Playas are everywhere in this part of the country - yet few people know what they are, what they do, or why they are important. Our classroom is the first to offer an outdoor exhibit on playas and an opportunity to touch see and experience one first hand. It is the kind of place that you have to visit over and over to get the full effect.
Playas change all of the time. Sometimes they have water in them, sometimes they do not. The wildflowers and native grasses come and go - some only blooming when conditions are just right. One spring the entire thing can be full of yellow flowers, the next purple, and the next pink. When it has recently rained, amphibians come out by the thousands - their croaks and calls so loud that you can hold your cell phone up and share their concert with a person on the other end. Birds of all kinds - some with long beaks and gangly legs others with patches of color so bright you ask yourself if what you just saw was real - appear and sing. When the playa is dry, the plants abound and grassland birds, swift and small, whiz around. The ground is grey and cracked.
It is truly a magically place and I am beyond excited about having to opportunity to share and open it up to you and anyone else who would like to see.

Rhiley Learning About Playa Formation

Check Out The Reflective Strip!

Darryl Digging In The Garden

The Sign and Rainwater Tanks

The Playa - Star of The Show

Final Blog!

2010-06-01T14:33:00.003-05:00

To wrap up my internship I am writing my final blog! This internship and spring semester went by super fast. It is hard to believe I am already done with the internship, and even harder for me to believe that I only have one semester left in my undergrad and will graduate in December!

I am really glad I got the opportunity to take on this internship. I was able to learn a lot and experience new things. When I first applied for the internship I really wasn’t sure what I was getting into. I did research on Ogallala Commons before my interview, just so I would know a little about what they do. When I applied I was finishing an internship with a photographer and I knew this would be a great opportunity to try something new and see the variety of work an Agriculture Communications major can do. After hearing I got the internship I was actually pretty nervous that I would have no clue what I was doing and be completely overwhelmed with all the projects I would have to work on. It turned out that although at times I didn’t have a clue what I was doing I learned a lot and had fun.

The best part of the internship was all the great people I got to meet and work with through Ogallala. Not only did I get to work with Ogallala and on all of their projects, but I also worked with Apple Country High Plains Orchard, The Department of State Health Services, South Plains Food Bank GRUB Program and St. John’s United Methodist Church. I really enjoyed planning and helping with the Ogallala Commons events like the 21st Annual Southern Plains Conference and Harwell Elementary Local Foods Day. I also loved getting to know the GRUB kids and what all they do for the South Plains Food Bank. Through all the people I worked with and projects I worked on I learned so much about local food what it can do for communities. I hope I was able to pass that information on to other people through the things I did with Ogallala.

One of the requirements of my internship was to do 10 volunteer hours. Although it does not directly relate to local food I did my volunteer hours at Girl Power workshop in Dalhart with Ann Mesaros and Liz Broadstreet from the Department of State Health Services. Girl Power was a workshop for 5th and 6th graders in Dalhart and surrounding towns. At the workshop we taught the girls about healthy eating and exercise, how to take care of their body, self defense, relationships and friendships, and self esteem. I had so much fun at girl power. I love working with kids and it was really great to see the girls have fun while learning all of these things. For my volunteer work I assisted Ann Mesaros in her healthy eating display and took photographs throughout the day. Here are a few of them!

Let the summer internships begin

2010-05-26T16:19:00.007-05:00

On May 26 and 27, seven of the 31 Ogallala Commons interns met in Atwood, Kansas for their intern orientation and tour. Interns and supervisors from six communities on the High Plains spent Wednesday afternoon learning about what is Ogallala Commons and why community-based internships are important. They were also equipped with the necessary tools to help them through the summer including work plans, information on how to blog and a small overview of what to expect. The most exciting part of doing an Ogallala Commons' community-based internship is that no two interns do the exact same work because they are doing projects that best serve their individual communities. So giving an overview of what to expect is not as easy as it sounds. However, after the work plans were discussed between supervisors and interns, they shared some of the projects that they would be working on. What came up is that many of the communities have theater projects, either operating or rebuilding community movie theaters. This will provide a great networking opportunity for the interns to discuss their efforts and successes on similar projects.

Baca County and Campo, Colorado interns discuss
their work plans and volunteer hours with their supervisor.

On Wednesday evening, we began our tour of the seven key experiences that interns will hopefully be exposed to or work in throughout the summer. This tour continued the next day and allowed for the interns to not only see examples of the seven key experiences in Rawlins and Cheyenne County, Kansas but also to understand how to look at their communities and see strengths and weaknesses.

For those of you just checking in these seven competencies are:

Supporting Local Food Systems

Being a Community Volunteer

Learning and Sharing Stories

Revitalizing the Community

Discovering Your Place

Designing Your Career Path

Wednesday evening we enjoyed dinner at Aberdeen Steakhouse and Pub located in the historic Shirley Opera House. There Alice Hill, owner of the Shirley Opera House, told about her family's journey of being entrepreneurs, using local food and preserving local history. This stop was valuable because it exemplified most of the seven skills.

Interns with Alice Hill outside of the Shirley Opera House.

After dinner at the Aberdeen including items grown in Alice Hill's garden, most of the interns enjoyed a game of bowling at Tommy's Restaurant and Bowl. This was a great way for the interns to network more and casually discuss their schools, career goals and life in general. This was also a unique experience because none of the other communities had bowling alley's and this was the first time one of the interns had ever gone bowling!

Check back soon to hear about the tours on Thursday, May 27!

Week 19 & 20, Julie Boatright

2010-05-25T11:05:00.004-05:00

One thing that we have spent a lot of time doing throughout my internship is teaching. Our curriculum focuses on playa lakes and all of the things that add up around them to make the ecosystem that we are all a part of.
We talk about water and all the issues, history and hydrology that goes along with it. We talk about wildlife - all the way from microscopic aquatic life to amphibians (there are 14 species completely dependant on playas for survival in the High Plains) to birds - from American Robins and Grackles to ducks, shorebirds, owls and other raptors and tyrant flycatchers (ie Kingbirds) We talk about amazing plants found on playas - their diversity and persistence dependent on the dynamic environment of the ephemeral wetlands. We touch and see and smell those plants with expert guides from the Natural Resource Conservation Service and US Fish and Wildlife. We wrap it all up with what each of us can do to preserve, appreciate and protect all of these amazing things that are disappearing and we paint a picture of what our quality of life would be without them.
We do these programs for children and adults and our lesson plan is constantly being adapted to make the days more meaningful, fun and effective at spreading the message of preservation, appreciation and observation.
These events are possible through partnerships with local agencies, the kind hearts of volunteers, and enthusiasm of community members through out the region.
For me this education aspect of my internship has been my inspiration to keep hopeful for the future, a chance at seeing and hearing presentations from great minds who are looking for answers and insight into our looming water situation, and the hardest most rewarding work I do. The following are photographs from a Playa Festival we conducted in Abernathy Texas.

Week 15, Katie Hancock

2010-05-13T12:37:00.002-05:00

Last Saturday we had our La Comida Es Vida, Local Foods Day at Harwell Elementary. We had been planning and working hard to prepare for the event, and overall I think it went very well. We had a lot of volunteers and teachers that showed up and helped. I wish there would have been a few more families to take advantage of all the great demonstrations and volunteers we had there. Some of the demonstrations we had were raised bed, square foot gardening, a farm animal petting zoo, cooking spinach quesadillas, and canning and preserving food. We also had our big farmers market lunch were the kids were supposed to eat the rainbow, and get a food of each color. Although we were short a couple colors, the kids did very well. I was surprised by how many kids put the spinach and greens on the burger. I was happy to see that the few families that were there, were very interested and excited about everything they were learning. They were especially excited about the door prizes we gave out. Which included t-shirts from the school, gift cards to Tree Grace Farms, compost, and a GRUB cookbook. This was my last event as a Harwell intern, so I was excited to see that our message got accross to even a few people. To finish up my internship I will be during some volunteer hours and the May newsletter, which I know is late coming out this month, but keep looking for it! Also, keep following the blog, next week I will post my final blog.

Week 18, Julie Boatright

2010-05-10T16:01:00.006-05:00

Week 18 was a week of preparations for "La Comida Es Vida," a local foods festival at Harwell Elementary in Lubbock. We arranged for a master gardener - Jim Brown of Breedlove Foods, a Chef - Mike Maher of Cafe J, the South Plains Food Bank Grub Program, a local farmer and folks from the USDA nutrition section to give presentations, demonstrations and set up a petting zoo to educate attendees about local foods and eating healthy.
I woke up early on Saturday, excited to see how things would turn out and how many folks would come to the event. Our target audience was the parents and inhabitants of the neighborhood around Harwell elementary - a lower income section on the East side of town. We had a ton of volunteers show up. We piled compost, wood chips, grow cups, organic grass-fed beef hamburger patties, fresh greens, and seeds for the children to plant in preparation. By 10am, the official start time, we had only 2 two families show up and throughout the morning only 3-4 more meandered in. My first thought was - disaster. Was it a failure in publicity or a result of unusually cold weather? So many people worked so hard, and this was all?
BUT, it turned out to be a very rewarding day. Chef Mike, an old high school buddy of mine who came in at the last minute, did a fantastic job. On the fly he made delicious, healthy quesdillas and answered a barrage of questions... and he got little kids to enthusiastically eat Swiss chard. The families that did come, vowed to go home an start a garden, inspired by the presenters. Everyone got to ask lots of questions, and received a more intimate workshop experience because each class was so small. All the children touched and held chickens and goats - some for the first time. And, when we left, Harwell had a new raised bed garden and a compost bin. What more could we ask for?

Week 17, Julie Boatright

2010-05-02T12:02:00.003-05:00

For this week’s blog, I have written an essay that is a result of a talk that Darryl and I gave in Hobbs, NM. The event was a Water Symposium and as I listened to the other presenters and audience questions I realized that many people, even those with PhDs, don’t really “get” this place. Also, when listening to the dismal future state of water and climate in the area, it is easy to lose hope and dwell in negativity. I know we are in trouble and I know it is going to get worse. But I don't think the key to getting ourselves prepared to head off or deal with the mess ahead is to spout doom and gloom. Maybe we just need to help people love this place. When you love something and appreciate it, you take care of it. I want to be hopeful, so I wrote a hopeful essay. I hope you like it.

Mountains are pretty. They rise up austerely, providing an inescapable view of their snow covered tops, rocky facades and evergreen vegetation. They are the supermodels of the natural world – gracing covers of magazines and lusted after by many admirers. This is alright if you are the sort of person that goes for the obvious, taking in what is flaunted in your face as the standard for what is easy on the eye.

I have always been the sort of girl that sincerely hopes that people look deeper for beauty. You know, the quiet, gentle, non-slope-flaunting kind of loveliness. The type of pretty that parents wish upon their daughters, the reason they forbid low cut tops and short dresses.

The beauty of the Southern High Plains is this kind of covert grace. It is revealed only to those who seek it out. In order to find it, you must learn flora, fauna, and natural processes that occur here.

If you take time to get familiar with the Southern High Plains, you will find amazing, unique and wondrous things. You will fall in love.

Week 14, Katie Hancock

2010-04-28T10:42:00.006-05:00

Well, my blog is a couple days late again! Sorry followers, I have been busy finishing up classes, but better late than never so here it is. This past week was much slower for the internship, but still busy for me with school and my birthday last Wednesday! I mostly worked on things for La Comida Es Vida Local Foods Day, which is coming up on May 8th at Harwell Elementary. I'm really excited for this event mostly because I have been involved in the planning from the beginning and will get to see the whole thing through, and I love working with kids, so I think it is going to be a lot of fun. We had our third planning meeting at Harwell last Friday to finalize most of our plans. I have been working on designing some materials we are going to use for the event. I made a flyer to hang around the school, community, and to send home with the kids. I also designed activity and rainbow lunch cards for the kids to get punched throughout the day so they can be entered to win doorprizes.

(for some reason I can't make this picture bigger, but this is us at the Outdoor Education Center at Harwell)

Week 16, Julie Boatright

2010-04-26T08:03:00.002-05:00

This week was a little slow because I had a very sick kiddo at home. Most of my days were spent watching movies, reading stories, making soup and playing skip-bo - so this blog post is going to be a bit short.
I finally got to drop off the panels that will hang inside the outdoor classroom! The sign company is going to fabricate and install them in May. Also, our builder Frank Alvarez met with Darryl and will begin work on making the benches and cabinets for the classroom this week! It is very exciting to see everything coming together.
Also, I crafted an invitation for the Grand Opening of the Playa Classroom, which will be on June 8th in conjunction with our Playafest Teacher Training in Nazareth. Here it is:

Week 13, Katie Hancock

2010-04-21T10:22:00.008-05:00

This month has just been crazy busy, last week was no different. We were all very busy at the 21st Annual Southern Plains Conference! The conference was wonderful. There were so many fun and interesting people there, I was excited to get to meet everyone. On Tuesday, like Julie said, we had Ogallala Board of Directors meeting. I got out of class just in time to join the group for lunch, very convenient timing on my part! I met the board, future interns, the students from Campo, Colorado, and got to tell everyone a little about my internship. From there we headed to the ICC and started setting up for the Soiree and Silent Auction. The Soiree was great. We were able to hear from Michael Forsberg, who had a wonderful presentation and breathtaking photographs of wildlife across the Great Plains. On Wednesday I mostly hung out in the sound booth, helping Julie start and stop presentations, check microphones, and turn the lights up and down. It was comical at times, learning how to use all that equipment, but we had fun and had a great view of all the presentations throughout the day. The best part of the Soiree and Conference, in my opinion, was the food! It was so neat to see what Rocky and University Catering put together with all the local food we had been gathering; especially the peanuts and black beans that I drove to Muleshoe and Portales to pick up. It really put together what I have been working on throughout my internship, putting a face with food. I enjoyed getting to tell people about where the food came from, and I was glad to see everyone reading the Food Producers List I put together. At the lunch on Wednesday I sat at the same table as Michael Forsberg and his wife, they were very interested in where the food came from and what type of local food programs we had in Lubbock. I was happy to speak with them about it and see my internship work tie into the conference.

Week 15, Julie Boatright

2010-04-17T13:11:00.006-05:00

This week was one that had been building up for months. On Wednesday Ogallala Commons held it's 21st Annual Southern Plains Conference titled "The Next Dust Bowl... 75 Years After Black Sunday" at the International Cultural Center on the Tech campus. Along with the conference, we held a board meeting and hosted an evening Soiree on Tuesday night. My job was to make sure the sound booth and projector were manned, lights were turned on and off as needed and that all of our presenters had what they needed to give their presentations - oh yeah, and give a presentation on Wednesday morning. It was a busy, crazy, exhausting, exciting couple of days.
Tuesday's board meeting was like a show and tell for me. I got to show everyone the blog and how to leave a comment, our new website, statistics on our new website, the panels for the outdoor classroom, etc. The board members of Ogallala Commons are wonderful people; everyone is kind, helpful, and unique.
Board meeting participants
Tuesday evening, I was caught off guard by a presentation by Michael Forsberg and Dan O'Brian authors of a photo/essay book about the Great Plains:
The presentation was hopeful, truthful and both authors are earnest, wholesome characters. My eyes teared up as they spoke about the place I hold nearest to my heart in a beautiful heartfelt way.
Wednesday, everyone's presentation went well. The group of speakers, which included Don Worster, Jim Richardson, Kevin Mulligan, a group of panelists and Andy Wilkinson, were an amazing combination resulting in leaving the room with a sense of what is going on in this region - past, present, and future. I also gave a presentation on rephotography. I was sooo nervous, but I think it went well despite a moment of wild powerpoint slide changing caused by a possessed wireless clicker! Thank you to everyone who attended - especially my Dad! It was very special to have him there!

Weeks 11 & 12, Katie Hancock

2010-04-12T17:14:00.003-05:00

The first half of April has been super busy, and I think it will continue to be busy for remainder of my internship. We have been working on everything for the 21st Annual Southern Plains Conference which starts tomorrow night and continues on Wednesday. Darryl and I met with David Deason and the University Catering team again to finalize our menu for the events. We have also been gathering the local foods that will be used in our meals. Friday I drove to Muleshoe and Portales to pick up beans and peanuts that were donated for the conference. I also updated our producers list, that features a picture and bio about every food producer who contributed to our meals for this years conference and Julie and I put together folders with the agenda and other information for everyone who attends. I am really excited to see what the conference is like and get to taste the food. I will have a lot of pictures to post from the conference on next weeks blog.

(Cal unloading at DSHS)
(Some of the produce)
(Ann and Liz helping check the order)

Besides getting ready for the conference I have been working in other areas of local food. We had our local food community meeting in Dimmitt this past week and set plans to have a series of 3 day camps in Castro County this summer. We had a few very active community members present at the meeting that will be great partners for the summer events. I finally got to join Cal Brints on Farm-to-Work and Farm-to-School deliveries. Last week I was at the Department of State Health Services when he delivered there, then today I followed him to three schools including my own high school. It was really neat to see the produce delivered to the cafeteria where I went to school.

Week 13 & 14- Julie Boatright

2010-04-09T17:52:00.004-05:00

One of the amazing things about my internship has been the wonderful people I get to work with. A few of them (impossible to find a picture of everyone) are pictured above.
Jason Hodges is a Landscape Architect and he has been immensely helpful in the design of our outdoor classroom. Dr. David Haukos is a biologist/professor/USFW/playa expert/migratory bird specialist that has been my information source for all the information on the panels for the outdoor classroom. Jane Bell is the Director of the International Cultural Center. She and her employee Christi Felton have been helping me to set up everything for next week's Southern Plains Conference. Rick Dingus is an amazing photographer and a professor in the art department at Tech. For the last two weeks he has let me practice my presentation for the Conference during his lecture time, allowing for me to get feedback from him and his students! Andy Wilkinson is on the Advisory Council for Ogallala Commons and is the artist-in-residence at the Southwest Collection Special Collections Library. Besides the long title, he is also a musician and has written an operetta that will be performed at the Conference. Rocky Rockwell (awesome name) is the Chef at University Catering. He and his crew have accepted deliveries from Darryl and I all week of food that has been produced locally. With all of that he is going to prepare all of the yummy eats for the Southern Plains Conference.
Through Ogallala Commons, I have the opportunity to work with all of these mentors and many more! Each of them are influential and inspirational.

Week 10, Katie Hancock

2010-03-29T17:49:00.004-05:00

It has been a couple weeks since my last post because of spring break, so I will catch everyone up on what I have been up to. The main work I have been doing the past couple of weeks has been with St. Johns United Methodist Church community garden. I have been working with the committee to contact other possible contributors and publicize the garden in the church's newsletter and on their website. This past weekend I joined the garden team for their first planting day. We planted mixed greens that the garden group is going to donate to Ogallala Commons for our La Comida Es Vida Local Foods Day at Harwell Elementary. We will be having a farmers market lunch at Harwell, the kids will have to eat all the colors of the rainbow to be entered into a drawing. Thanks to St. John's community garden the kids will have the green for their rainbow.

I also got to experience a Paidom Meats delivery last week. Alan Birkenfeld makes a monthly delivery to Lubbock and I got to observe it last week. He meets customers at the Sutherlands parking lot to deliver all the products. Alan said it was one of his biggest Lubbock deliveries so it was a good one for me to see. I visited with a few customers as they waited for their food, and I heard nothing but great things about Paidom's products. Everyone talked very high of the meat and said all the products taste great. Next time I am definitely going to try some.

I have also been busy preparing for all the things we have coming up in April and May. We are having a community meeting in Dimmitt next week, similar to the meeting we held in Tulia. The 21st Annual Southern Plains Conference is coming up in a couple weeks so we have been busy preparing for that. Today Darryl and I met with University Catering to finalize all the menus for the conference and then met Julie for lunch to discuss some details, and talk to a reporter from the Avalanche Journal to get something written up to publicize the event. I have also been working on the April addition of the Llano Estacado Newsletter that will be going out Thursday, so everyone keep an eye out for that.

Week 12, Julie Boatright

2010-03-26T23:07:00.006-05:00

This week has been strangely quiet. My daughter is back in school, my supervisor went on vacation and my dog is on allergy meds that make him mellow and sleepy. In moments like these I always start with a panicky feeling... Is there something I should be doing? Why isn't my phone ringing? Where is everyone?!?
The Panicky Moment

But after I take a few deep breaths, I find I can be strangely productive. I have almost completed my presentation for the Southern Plains Conference. A power-point, complete with narration! My new computer has a microphone built right in and the sound is surprising decent. Now I will be able to share my presentation with anyone, no traveling required. And that, is about as exciting as it gets. However, exciting or not, this has been a peaceful catchup week - something I definitely needed after several fast paced weeks. Here is what my week looked like:
Monday - I traveled out of town for a meeting which had changed location without letting me know! Once home, I got it straightened out thru email, answered about a bazillion emails, tweaked the new intern brochure and then attended a meeting with the communications committee of The Lubbock Heritage Society. As part of a Community Internship, we are required to complete community service hours. I am going to work 20 hours for the Lubbock Heritage Society, photographing, writing stories and designing "Lubbock's Most Endangered Places" and "Lubbock's Historical Preservation Success Stories" pamphlets.
Click on the Picture to visit the Society's Website
Tuesday - I worked on my presentation and at 6pm I ventured to Sutherland's to pick up a meat delivery from Paidom Meats for a local foods conference in Midland.
Wednesday - Presentation work! And work on packet materials for Southern Plains Conference.
Thursday - I met with Andy Wilkinson to discuss photograph selection for the Southern Plains Conference, and worked on the presentation.
Friday - I met with a fellow Heritage Management Grad student to discuss future collaboration opportunities for Ogallala Commons. In the afternoon I led a meeting to work out an Agenda for the Harwell "La Comida Es Vida" Festival in May.