After
completing the second week of my internship, I am pleased to say this is proving to be a fun summer! In the past two weeks, I have worked in three
extension offices and one research center. This week, my tasks in the Talbot
County office have included checking websites to ensure all links are current
and beginning the process of organizing materials for the 4-H Horse Bowl
Competition and Beginning Farmer Guidebook class. In the Dorchester County
extension office, I visited the Lower Eastern Shore Research & Education
Center (LESREC), where I checked the kale plants for our kale insect study and
replanted the plants whose leaves had been bitten off. While at LESREC, we checked
the plants for the blackberry and blueberry studies, helped researchers with
the University of Delaware plant watermelon plants for their inoculation trial,
and stopped by our bug traps to collect the bugs that are used for insect
population estimates. My office work in Dorchester County consisted of sorting
demographic information to be reported for various events. In the Queen Anne’s
County office, I continued my work on the formal curriculum for the county’s Ag
Awareness Day and began compiling a rough draft of the curriculum for the
education stations. I additionally attended the Delmarva Chicken Association
Booster BBQ and assisted my mentor, Jennifer Rhodes, with working the
University of Maryland Extension booth at this event.
This week, I have found my background in agriculture and my leadership positions at my university to greatly assist me in the various tasks I have performed. While working with the kale, watermelon, blueberries, and blackberries I relied on my hands-on agriculture experience gained from living and working on my family’s farm to properly handle each plant. Likewise, I have found the interpersonal skills I have gained from serving as an advocate for my university’s School of Agriculture and Biological Sciences have helped me while interacting with University of Maryland employees, my fellow intern, and the general public while working the UME booth this week. Goals I have set for myself for this internship include learning how to conduct a field research study, learning how to mix and apply pesticides from a backpack sprayer, becoming more familiar with certain functions of google docs and google sheets, learning how to compile a formal curriculum, and completing each assigned task to the best of my abilities.
Although I will be working in offices most of the time, I will be given exposure to various new technologies through farm tours, my time spent at LESREC, and the many events I will be working at. In my two weeks with UME, I have already been exposed to the many vast career opportunities available through UME. While my three mentors all work in the Agriculture and Food Systems area, I have been able to see the different tasks that each of them performs within this area. I will also be working with Mikaela Boley in Talbot County, who oversees the Horticulture and Master Gardener program, and Erica Willing in Dorchester County, who oversees the 4-H Youth and Education program, so I will be exposed to the many areas and careers UME has to offer. In the first two weeks of my internship, I have gained a great deal of knowledge and hands-on experience, and I look forward to expanding that knowledge and experience throughout the summer!
Comments
Post a Comment