Darryl Birkenfeld, Director, Ogallala Commons
Jeff Reid from the WTAMU Enterprise Center presents on a financial projection model |
Ogallala Commons
put its Youth Engagement Programs in full display last week at two
events. On July 11th, Julie Hodges moderated a panel
entitled, “Engaging Youth – Securing the Future,” at the Texas
Economic Development Council Summer Meeting at The Overton Hotel in Lubbock,
TX. Julie introduced OC’s programs, and found ways to involve OC
Community Interns Rebecca Hopp, Masi Mejia, and Will Brewer, as well as a Youth
E-Fair 1st prize winner, Kristen True from Plainview, TX.
On July 12th,
OC co-presented a Training on Youth Engagement & Youth
Entrepreneurship in conjunction with the WTAMU Enterprise Center from
9am-4pm at the Enterprise Center in Amarillo, TX. We were pleased to have
20 participants at the event, including Chris Sramek from Atwood, KS, and OC
Board Member Bobby Gierisch from Austin, TX, as well as high school and college
educators from New Mexico and Texas. OC is gearing up to conduct 5
Youth Engagement Days in Texas, Colorado, and Kansas this fall.
Supervisor
Spotlight: Wilson, Texas (Justin McKibben and Shawna Jones)
Shawna Jones – Shawna also works for Wilson
ISD and is the Community in Schools liaison. She spends her time helping
students and the community with daily issues and needs. She holds a regular
“girls group” with teenage girls to talk about the issues in their lives.
Shawna loves to travel the world and experience new cultures. Shawna is
spending a month this year in Panama.
Intern Profile:
Tristen Huseman
My name is
Tristen Huseman. I was raised in
Nazareth, Texas until I was five years old.
This is when my family moved to Tulia, Texas, where I currently
live. I am the oldest of four children,
I have one younger sister Dawn, and two younger brothers Collin and Ethan. Next year, I will be a junior at Tulia High
School. I play alto saxophone in the
Tulia Fightin’ Hornet Band, varsity basketball, varsity tennis, and I run track. My internship is located at Tulia Junior High
School. My duties during my internship
will include tutoring kids in math, helping with the special-needs kids during
their summer school, and assisting with Tulia ISD’s summer food program that
provides free meals to any children throughout the summer.
Intern Profile:
Alyssa Irlbeck
"Hi,
my name is Alyssa Irlbeck. I grew up on a farm and
ranch near Happy and Tulia, graduated from Texas Tech, and now [...] work with
the City Manager of Tulia to get the
satellite YMCA in Tulia up and running for my community internship. I will also conduct surveys and compile data for the Economic Development Council
(EDC), look into rural health care opportunities - both existing and ones we
may be able to generate - to encourage young people to come back to our town,
and work on establishing Tulia as a "Main Street" town." [...] Community Internships through the
Ogallala Commons - what a great chance to change the world by putting you in
contact with others who can help you make it a little brighter and a little
better than it was before.
Intern Profile:
Haley Jacobsen
I’m Haley Jacobson from the small town of
Arnold, Nebraska. I love taking pictures, watching movies, writing, and going
to the lake. I just graduated on May 12, and I am looking forward to a great
summer. In the fall I will head off to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln,
where I will be majoring in journalism and mass communications. In high school,
I was involved in a lot of clubs and activities because we had such a small
number of students. I participated in volleyball, basketball, cheerleading, one
act, quiz bowl, student council, art club, band, teens against drugs and
alcohol, journalism, and annual staff, as well as being involved in 4-H.
A couple of activities my internship [includes]
are: setting up a local 4-H camp, creating a town brochure, and working with
the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to get an agricultural museum here in
Arnold. Not only do I get to have a valuable internship experience, I have the
chance to give back to the amazing little community that has helped raise
me.
Intern Profile:
Catherine Jenkinson
Hello, all! My name is Catherine Jenkinson and I am the
intern for the Wallace County Foundation for the second year this summer. I am
from Wallace County, Kansas and I will be doing my internship at Williams
Consulting with my supervisor, Rita Williams, who is a board member of the
Wallace County Foundation. My work this summer will not involve accounting,
however. Instead, I will be working on a fundraising letter that the foundation
sends out in November to approximately seventeen-hundred people. This task will
include ordering supplies, printing, cutting, labeling, and finally, stuffing
the envelopes. I also will be working on an oral history project that is in the
very early stages of development at this point. Furthermore, I will be planning
a possible summer trip that the foundation may be putting on for the community,
as well as coordinating the foundation files of the board members. I also will
be doing other basic secretarial work that the foundation needs.
Catherine, I work closely with the foundation officer here at Odessa College and the skills you'll learn as you help the Wallace Foundation will be very helpful if you ever consider a job in planned giving, or development. The job of a development officer is an interesting one! You have probably already learned that it's part strategist, part hostess, part ambassador, and part financier! Best of luck and enjoy your time there. Martha Kunkel, Odessa, TX
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