Our hardworking Community Intern, Megan England, has spent a good part of her summer tracking down intern alumni. She has written a two-part article with updates on what is happening with Ogallala Commons Community Interns from 2007-2011 (Part II will appear in next week's OC Newsletter: The Place).
Part One (Interns appear in alphabetical order)
Carolina Balderas (’10) is currently employed at a dairy farm near Hereford, TX.
Lacey Barker (’09) is a junior Business major at University of Central Oklahoma in Edmund.
Kyle Birkenfeld (’09) is attending Texas A&M University (College Station, Texas) and majoring in Agricultural Engineering. He is currently interning with an agricultural engineering company in Dalhart, Texas.
Steven Birkenfeld (’09) just finished his sophomore year at Texas A&M University. He is majoring in Ag Engineering and is currently interning with Texas Cotton Ginners Association.
Mary Bitter (’11) works as a Para at Barton County Academy. She will graduate from Barton County Community College (Great Bend, KS) with a History degree in December of 2011. After graduation, she plans to stay in Great Bend and take classes online to get her Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from Fort Hays State University.
Sydney Busse (’09, ’10) will graduate from Baylor University (Waco, Texas) in May of 2013 with a degree in Health Sciences Studies with a Pre-Physical Therapy major. She then plans to obtain her doctorate in physical therapy and find a program, such as Doctors Without Borders, that would allow her to serve Third-world or underprivileged areas. Eventually, she would like to return to a rural area (ideally Bird City, KS) to live and practice physical therapy.
Simone Cahoj (07, ’08, ’09) graduated from the University of Kansas (Lawrence, Kansas) and is currently employed as the Wichita County Economic Development Director in Leoti, Kansas.
Blenda Cooper (’10) of Denver, Colorado is a personal trainer currently in the process of starting a non-profit to help fight childhood obesity. She specifically wants to help under-served people who could not afford such health services normally.
Emma Cress (’10) will graduate from Northwestern College-Iowa (Orange City, Iowa) in May 2012 with a degree in Athletic Training, Pre-Physical Therapy and a Spanish minor. Soon after, she hopes to attend physical therapy graduate school.
Allison Dunbar (’10) is currently attending college and working at a research lab in Atlanta, Georgia.
Thomas Edwards (’10) is currently studying at Asbury University (Wilmore, Kentucky).
Elisa Elizondo (’11) is currently studying Ecology/Natural History and Ecological Design at Prescott College in Arizona.
Megan England (’09, ’10, ’11) is currently a senior in high school at Campo, Colorado and plans to attend Oklahoma Wesleyan University in the fall of 2012 to study Communications/Media Writing.
Jayme Flores (’07) of Amarillo, Texas is currently going to school for Paralegal Studies and plans to graduate in 2013. She then plans to work for a few months before attending law school.
Larissa Gardner (’10, ’11) is currently a graduate student in History at West Texas A&M University (Canyon, Texas). Her primary focus is Public History, and she is very fond of making history relatable to the public. She plans to finish her degree in the next year and a half, after which she hopes to teach or work in a museum.
Alex Gerber (’09) is currently a sophomore at West Texas A&M University in Canyon, Texas. She will soon be entering the nursing program.
Melanie Hartman (’09) of Happy, Texas is presently a wildlife biologist for the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. She is stationed at Buffalo Lake National Wildlife Refuge and also works at Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge.
Jordan Hergenreder (’10) is interning for the National Farmers Union in Washington, D.C.
Allyson Hochstein (’08) is enrolled at the School of Nursing at the University of the Incarnate Word (San Antonio, Texas). She will graduate in May 2012 and begin her career as a registered nurse.
Michelle Hochstein (’10) is a senior in high school in Nazareth, Texas where she will graduate in 2012.
Shauna Koester (’11) is studying History at Barton County Community College (Great Bend, KS). After her graduation in 2012, she wants to become a history professor.
Kathleen Wyly ('10) is attending Lubbock Christian University, majoring in Organizational Management, and plans to graduate with her Bachelor's degree in December 2012.
Former OC Intern Returns Home
By Megan England, OC Intern
Above: Paige LeBlanc (far right) during her 2009 internship
During the summer of 2009, Paige (Ownbey) LeBlanc became one of Campo, Colorado’s first Ogallala Commons Community Interns. She worked on several projects, but specifically created a website for the town of Campo. Since that time, Paige has graduated from high school, attended college at Otero Junior College in La Junta, Colorado, and has returned home to work at her alma mater.
“Miss Paige”, as the students call her, is currently the daycare provider and assistant high school volleyball coach at Campo School. Recently married, both Paige and her husband, Anthony, volunteer with the local fire department.
Like several former interns, Paige is a wonderful example of what Ogallala Commons hopes to accomplish with community internships: that is, “to inspire home-grown talent to return in the future--to live, work, play and raise their families.”
Intern Profile: Sarah Reeves 
My name is Sarah Reeves and I've lived in Munday, Texas for my entire life. I graduated from Munday High School in 2009, and am currently attending Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, TX. I am majoring in Elementary Education and plan to graduate in the fall of 2012. This summer I worked with the Knox County Visioning Group, which is dedicated to bringing together the communities in our county and helping to get everyone involved in community-wide events. My biggest project this summer was to help create a county-wide brochure. None of the cities in our county have brochures, so this was an interesting process and learning experience. I can't wait to see the final brochure, which will be something that everyone can enjoy and use to help them learn more about Knox County. We had “Knox County Adventure Days” one weekend in June and had loads of fun activities including: geocaching, bus tours, an “Amazing Grace Race”, a lunch to benefit our fire departments, and a photo scavenger hunt. We also hosted the Bobby Boatright Western Swing Music Camp in Goree, TX at the Knox Prairie Events Center this July. This camp was almost a week long, and students learned how to play guitar and fiddle, as well as simply learning how to better their technique. All in all, I’ve had an amazing summer and become a better person because of it. I have learned valuable skills such as: finding my voice, and finding new ways in which to relate to my community.
Intern Profile: Tia Hadley
I’m Tia Hadley and I'm from Atwood Kansas. I'm a sophomore at the University of Nebraska at Kearney and I'm majoring in biochemistry and theater. I recently got engaged and am really excited to get married when I'm done with college. I found out about this internship from reading about it in my town's newspaper. I hope I can help my community through this internship and work on skills that will help me with my career in the future. Also I'm really excited to learn more about my community and the people who live in it.
I have a very big family. I have three sisters, one brother, three step sisters and two step brothers. In my spare time I love to read as much as I can, listen to music, play video games and hang with friend. My career goals are to get my doctorate in biochemistry and work as a biochemist doing medical research. I want to do research on diseases like cancer and diabetes. I have already got started doing research on diabetes last semester. I wrote a paper over my research and it got published
Intern Profile: Kara Lacey
Hey! I’m Kara Lacey and I am from Tulia, Texas. I attend Texas Tech University and I love it! My major currently is Ag. Education, and I am planning on being a County Extension Agent someday. I found out about the OC internship through my county extension agent, Calley Runnels, because I was wondering if they had any work I could do for the summer at the extension office and she told me about the internship opportunity! I then applied, and was very excited to learn that I got the internship! I expect to learn a lot about how a rural community functions, and also different things that my advisors have to teach me about their job. I also expect to learn about leadership qualities, and what skills you need to be an effective leader.
In my spare time I like to hang out with my friends of course, and I love going to concerts. I like to play tennis a lot when I can find the time for it, which is hardly ever. I also enjoy spending time with my family! And Texas Tech football of course! I am also in Collegiate 4-H, so that takes up time as well. My all time favorite type of music is Texas Country. My favorite bands/artists are Brandon Adams, Turnpike Troubadours, and Brandon Rhyder.
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