Intern Profile: Learning the Contributions of Local Food Production
By Shauna Koester and Mary Bitter
Shauna (left) and Mary stand in OC Board Member Tom Giessel’s shop in Larned, KS during a visit to his farm.
When our history teacher (Linda McCaffery) at Barton Count Community College (Great Bend, Kansas) first came to us with an idea of doing a Community Internship with Ogallala Commons, we were not quite sure what to expect. It was an exciting idea and after learning the details (Rebuilding Local Food Systems), and both of us were ready and raring to go. At first we tried hard to keep on a single topic and find one bit of information, but with the plethora of info out there, especially in the World Wide Web, it was something slightly difficult to stop from following a lead that would guide us astray. Still, we were slightly unaware of the world we were opening up. It wasn’t until the teleconference with Ogallala Commons that we got the set guidelines we were supposed to follow. Our first project was an oral history. We spoke to Shirley Smith about her growing up in Russell, Kansas during the World War II era. She opened our eyes to how important gardening and canning was to the entire family and community in the 1940’s. Our next interview was with Julie Peterson, a teacher at Barton County College. She gave us insight into her life and how she is making the switch to almost completely organic foods. She has a very large garden and she plans to sell the excess food with her granddaughters at a local farmer’s market. Along with looking at past and present local food growth, we researched the Oklahoma Food Coop and the High Plains Food Coop, which is out of Kansas. We then went on our third interview with the man who first came to Linda with this idea of an internship, Tom Giessel. During our interview, he took us around his farm to show us the equipment he used and the farm land that was his. One thing he stressed to us was the importance of farming to our local community and to the world. He also explained to us that out of the entire countryside around his home, only two out of the many houses actually belonged to a farmer who farmed land. We do have future plans to do our last oral history with a WWII veteran. He will be talking to us about his time farming his family’s land with mules. Throughout our time working with Ogallala Commons Internships, we have learned many things about food production and are very excited to keep on learning!
Add Value…Earn College Credit Through Your Community Internship
By Darryl Birkenfeld, Ph.D., OC Director
Next month, Ogallala Commons will be welcoming 30 new Community Interns into our program, as they begin summer internships. For all our interns, here is something to consider. When calculating the value of a Community Internship, many things come to mind: receiving a stipend, meeting and networking with interesting people, great learning opportunities, and working on exciting projects. Don’t forget another excellent benefit that you can attain: receiving college credit for your internship!
In 2010, many Ogallala Commons interns received from 3 to 6 hours of college credit for their summer and semester-long internships. Our internships offer short-term immersive opportunities for students and adults in pursing deeper knowledge and hands-on experience in various career fields. This makes an OC Internship an excellent addition to your education experience and helps you to meet the internship and/or hours requirements for your degree program. Here are the steps to take if you are interested in earning college credit:
First, you as an intern must take the initiative to inquire with a professor in your degree program, and/or an Intern Supervisor or appropriate official at your college or university. Make an appointment and inform your professor or administrator that you are doing a supervised community internship, and ask if it is possible to receive college credit for your internship.
Second, make sure that you work with Darryl Birkenfeld or Julie Hodges to have a official draft summary (2-pages) of the main objectives and outcomes of your proposed internship. This is a valuable document to present to your professor or administrator to see the scope of what you will be doing in your internship, and how your outcomes relate to your degree program or other requirements that your work experience can fulfill.
Third, if your professor or administrator has questions or needs clarification, give them contact information (email address or phone number) to contact either Darryl or Julie.
Fourth, ask your professor or administrator to fill out and sign OC’s College Credit for Community Internship form and make sure this document is turned in to Julie Hodges before your internship begins.
If earning college credit through an internship is your goal, be sure and start the process early. Ogallala Commons is ready to help you, but the responsibility lies with you, the intern.
2011 Rawlins County HTC E-Fair
By Chris Sramek, OC Board President
Rawlins County HTC held its 2011 Youth Entrepreneurship Fair on Friday April 1st at the Rawlins County High School Gym. This was the 6th year for the fair. Over the previous 5 years, 73 youth have participated with $12,500 in cash prizes awarded. In addition, each year local business Bison RX Compounding and Therapy has awarded $500 to the school or youth program of the 1st place winner.
Rawlins County HTC held its 2011 Youth Entrepreneurship Fair on Friday April 1st at the Rawlins County High School Gym. This was the 6th year for the fair. Over the previous 5 years, 73 youth have participated with $12,500 in cash prizes awarded. In addition, each year local business Bison RX Compounding and Therapy has awarded $500 to the school or youth program of the 1st place winner.
Every year, a guest speaker has presented to an all school assembly of the 7th -12th grades, about entrepreneurship being a viable career choice and an opportunity to stay and return to your community. This year’s speaker was Paul Tamburello a Denver, CO community developer and philanthropist who spoke about social entrepreneurship, local food opportunities and boredom not being geographic, but a state of mind.
This year's fair consisted of 17 entries, 14 from Rawlins County FFA, Jr High and High School and 3 winners from the Cheylin Entrepreneurship Fair held two weeks earlier. This was the second most entries and the highest quality all around to date. Due to the quality, additional monies where raised to include a People’s Choice, Best Concept and Social Entrepreneur awards.
This year’s winners were Golden Fields Honey (1st and People’s Choice), Jason’s Magnificent Manure (2nd), Wilhelm’s Custom Reloads (3rd and Social Entrepreneur) and GTP Bucket Calves (Best Concept). Junior High students Jesse Sis and Jacobi Castens comments afterwards: This was the best day they've ever had in school; because they got to talk to others about something they like and want to do.”
(l-r) E-Fair winners: Brodie Malsom, Jason Sis, and Wilhelm Orten)
Playa Classroom Visit by Home Schoolers and NET PBS Film Crew
By Julie Hodges, OC Education Coordinator
By Julie Hodges, OC Education Coordinator
PCHEA members at the Playa Classroom on April 12, 2011
On Tuesday, April 12, 2011 the Ogallala Commons Playa Classroom was visited by the Panhandle Christian Home Educators Association (PCHEA) and a film crew from Nebraska Educational Telecommunications Center (NET) for a Playa Festival.
The film crew was joined by OC friend Michael Forsberg, a Conservation Photographer who’s most recent book project: The Great Plains: America’s Lingering Wild is being turned into a documentary. For a preview of the film, visit: http://www.michaelforsberg.com/
Dave Haukos of USFWS, Jim Steiert, Author and Waterfowler, Gail Barnes, Animal Rehabilitator along with Julie Hodges and Darryl Birkenfeld of OC, engaged approximately 45 home schoolers and their family members through presentations and a tour of the Playa Classroom. Groups roamed through the Playa for an hour scouting for plants, birds and evidence of macro invertebrates. Lisa Davis, a PCHEA Mom wrote in an email after the Festival, “My girls are very excited about playas and ask all the time if we can go back to the classroom. In the car, they even look for playas! It is very refreshing to hear, “Mom, is that a playa?”
This event marks the first Playa Festival for a home school association, paving the way for other regional associations to have a Festival of their own. As for the documentary, we are excited to see the film when it is completed!
