Helping Others Learn to Grow

It's hard to believe that the summer is over already!  It seems like only yesterday that I started my internship with University of Illinois Extension, Unit 13.  I split my time this summer between the 

4-H/Youth Development and Horticulture programs and got to work on some fun and exciting projects.

My Time in Jail... not really!

My main horticulture project involved working with Master Gardener volunteers at the Champaign County Juvenile Detention Center (JDC) community garden.  This program, started by horticulture educator Sandy Mason, provides year-round lessons to detained youth from around Champaign County and the surrounding areas.  

There are two main objectives of the JDC program.  The first is to provide interactive lessons on horticulture, healthy eating, nature, and the environment.  Secondly, and I think most importantly, it provides hands-on gardening experience for the youth, many of which have never gardened before.  This also helps fulfill the Master Gardener mission to "help others learn to grow."

My primary job in the JDC program was to format and create interactive lesson plans, put together operational guidelines and procedure, and to design evaluation forms that will help the volunteers track their progress at the garden and provide helpful information when they apply for grants and other funding.  However, I also got to get out in the garden many times this summer!

It was definitely a shock to work in the garden under the JDC environment.  Since it is a correctional facility, security is a top concern.  The use of sharp garden tools is limited, plant heights are restricted, and things like string, wire cages, and even plant identification tags are not allowed.  A tool count was done at the beginning and end of each session and the officers had to be notified how many tools we had.

Even though there were many restrictions, it was great to see how actively engaged the kids were with everything.  They loved being able to pick and eat raspberries right off the plants, and had competitions to see who could harvest the most tomatoes.  While it was something I had never experienced before, I was really glad to be able to play a part at JDC this summer.

In addition to fruit and vegetables, the garden also has a monarch butterfly habitat and has been designated a Monarch Waystation by Monarch Watch, an organization that tracks the monarch butterfly migration each year.

The raised vegetable beds were planted with tomatoes, peppers,
cantaloupe, sunflowers, eggplant, green beans, and broom corn.

The berry patch overflowed with red raspberries, thornless blackberries, strawberries, and blueberries.

Unit 18 Extension Leadership and Programming

Well this summer has flown by and I can’t believe my internship is over. The last week of my internship were the busiest, I finally had my two special projects come alive.

Macoupin Official Shadowing:

On August 13^th, 2013 my pilot program from last summer had its second appearance.  I had 11 participants arrive anxiously at the Macoupin County Jail Facility. They went straight to work mulching and weeding an old judge’s garden by the courthouse. This project is one of many that are helping in the courthouse restoration the community is partaking in. They then had a delicious meal provided by Reno’s pizza in Carlinville, IL. After the meal, the August Macoupin County Board meeting began with Chairman Mark Dragovich asking the participants to lead the meeting with the pledge of allegiance.

Gabe Springer, Chief Financial Officer of the Board, and participants weeding the garden next to the courthouse.

Below:All of the county board members and participants pose for a picture in the newly mulched garden.

Unit 18 HCE Retreat:

On August 15^th, 2013 my newest program took flight. Sara Marten and I created a retreat for all the ladies in our units HCE programs. It was extremely interesting to see another side of extension other than just 4-H and master gardeners.We had 23 members show up for a fun filled day with crafts, parliamentary procedure and generations. The ladies had a marvelous time and decided to have these twice a year instead of meeting at a restaurant.

Marsha Heyen was the lady who lead the craft break out session. Here she is teaching some ladies how to make a lei scarf. The other ladies were making button bracelets.

Below is a picture of me during Sara and I's presentation about parliamentary procedure.

Professional Leadership Skills Certificate Workshop

The Youth Leadership Certificate Program

My internship was with the University of Illinois Extension serving Bureau, LaSalle, Marshall, and Putnam Counties.  As the summer intern, my main project was to create the "Youth Leadership Certificate Program" which was developed to fill the need that many high school students have when thinking about career development.  It was my responsiblity to create a certificate program that will help prepare participants for entering the workforce through a series of development certificate workshops.  Upon completion of each certificate workshop participants will receive a certificate endorsed by the University of Illinois Extension exemplifying the work-related skills the participant has developed throughout the workshops.  

The first certificate available was the Professional Leadership Skills Certificate workshop which was offered on August 1st and 2nd for high school students ages 15-18.  It was a full, two-day workshop open to the public that was hosted at the Bureau County Extension Office in Princeton, IL from 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. both days.  The workshop was a complete success having 13 participants receive their Professional Leadership Skills Certificate upon completion of the two-day workshop.  In order to insure the sessions were interesting and meaningful for the participants, five presenters from the University of Illinois Extension staff, including myself,  and one guest speaker Dennis Toth, Ace Hardware Warehouse Manager, shared their knowledge and expertise about the content area. 

Sessions Included:

• Real Colors Personality Inventory.
• Determined personality color temperament and incorporated their new self-awareness when making decisions and working in teams.
• Leadership.
• Explored the importance of leadership and worked to create a professional pitch to answer the question, “Can you tell me about yourself?”
• Professional Development.
• Defined professionalism and applied definition to the workplace through attire, communication, appropriate use of social media, and dining etiquette.
• Workforce Preparation.
• Created a resume and learned about the STAR Method for answering interviewing questions to prep for job applications.

Overall, the workshop was a complete success and the participants unanimously stated that they would recommend this workshop to their friends.  This was my ideal internship experience because I was able to apply all of the information I have learned throughout my Agricultural Leadership Education classes while planning a workshop of my own.  This experience was extremely beneficial and I have learned valuable information that helps when dealing with lesson plans and event planning.   

Responsibilities Included:

• Creating marketing materials 
• news releases, fliers, mailings, and personal recruitment phone calls.
• Writing workshop lesson plans 
• 3, 3-hour lesson plans tied to Illinois State Teaching Standards and Common Core standards.
• Coordinating presenters
• 4, University of Illinois Extension Staff and 1 guest presenter
• Planning a budget 
• workshop materials, lunches, and snacks.
• Evaluating workshop effectiveness
• Evaluation survey, informal discussion

 

Astounding (Unit) 8Teens

This summer my special project was working with the “Astounding (Unit) 8Teens”, a group of 9^th through 12^th grade 4-H member from the University Of Illinois Extension Unit 18 in Christian, Jersey, Macoupin, and Montgomery Counties. 

Members doing an activity
to learn about different
leadership styles.

This group had been minimally active in the past, and it was my goal to find out what they would like to do. We started by having a cookout at Beaver Dam State Park in Carlinville. 10 members came to this first event, we did some leadership and team building activities and had a brief meeting about what the next steps would be for the Astounding (Unit) 8Teens. They made the decision to meet once a month during the summer and every other month during the school year. We also discussed what they would like to do, some suggestions were museum trips, Chicago Trip, Movie nights, and laser tag. In addition, we talked about what they would like to see done in 4-H to make it more meaningful to older members.

For our second event of the summer we had a swimming party and cookout at the pool in Hillsboro that 7 members attended.  There we had another meeting with Kathryn, the girl that is going to take over leading the group since I was only working for the summer. They made plans to do community service and do some fun activities throughout the upcoming year and a mentoring program was also discussed to let older members help younger members with projects and 4-H activities.

In addition to planning activities for the Astounding (Unit) 8Teens I conducted a survey of the current 9^th through 12^th grade 4-H members and their parents, as well as past high school 4-H members who had left 4-H in the past 2 years and their parents. In total, I sent out 648 surveys and received 54 back completed.

Surveys ready to be sent out!

From the current members the biggest changes they would like to see is more workshops for older students, they feel out of place with the members under the age of 12. They also want to see the “cliqueness” of their clubs and other 4-H activities reduced. Most all of these students felt that they had gained valuable leadership skills as well as knowledge about the projects they have completed. Many also commented that they now felt more comfortable speaking in front of a group.

The parents of these students agreed that they would like to see more workshop and leadership opportunities for the older members. They had seen their children gain confidence and responsibility. They also mentioned the knowledge their children gained through completing their projects. In addition they saw their children building leadership and public speaking skills. Some parents also found communication to be unclear and asked for a better schedule of when things will be sent to them and their children.

The results are in! Looking over
all the information we collected from the survey

Across the board there seemed to be a call for clarification of the fair books and 4-H records. Perhaps by adding more description of what a project must been to meet requirements for judging at the fair.  Parents also mentioned that workshops about how to do record to meet the state award requirements would be helpful and that perhaps online records would simplify things.

Among the surveys I received back from past members and their parents the reason that they most often left 4-H seemed to be that there was not enough time to fit everything in and 4-H was what they chose to let go. However, some also mentioned that the meetings were not at a convenient time for them or they didn’t feel that they fit in or had fun at meetings.

I really enjoyed working with extension this summer and I feel like I have learned a ton! I hope this survey will be useful in improving the 4-H program and the Astounding (Unit) 8Teens will continue to be active.

As the upcoming two weeks approach, it is the last two weeks of my internship. These last two weeks I am submitting final reports to our clients and estimating how good their yield will be per bushel. This summer has definitely been an experience and I have learned a lot about crops and how to scout them to benefit the farmer. I am still keeping an eye out for diseases and insects, but I am more concentrated on letting the farmer know what they will have for yields.

Sangamon Menard County Extension Experience

Kids make 4-H bracelets at the Logan county Fair

 This Summer has been one experience after another. With lots of leadership, communication, and productivity to keep my busy. But not that my internship is done I get a chance to reflect on what  I gained from this experience and how I could use that information in the future.

One of my favorite things I did this summer was interacting and teaching the kids of the Logan, Meanrd, and Sangamon County. This past fair we did a number of activities with both the public and the 4-H, trying to get kids involved in their local 4-H program and promoting the 4-H as a whole.

The pubic got to do a number of activities that you might see in a regular 4-H meeting or at a 4-H camp. They had tons of fun creating bracelets and getting 4-H tattoos along with going on a scavenger hunt. All sorts of prizes were given out and I think that we made a positive impact on the local community.

Attendees at the Logan County Fair checking out what the
4-H booth had to offer.

Overall though my experience with the 4-H and the extension office was nothing less of amazing. If you are reading this blog and thinking that maybe this would be a good experience for you. Let me stop you there and just say "do it." It is most certainly a  helpful, life changing, and interesting experience, worth all the effort that goes into it.

Without the help of the University of Illinois and this class  I would not have gained such knowledge and experience with teaching and training as I did. So my greatest thanks for all who took this class this year and to the teachers and staff who pushed me personally to take this course.

University of Illinois Extension 4-H & CME Commodity Carnival

My name is Caitlin Chrzanowski and I am a senior at the University of Illinois majoring in Agricultural Leadership Education.  This summer I conducted my 400 hour internship with the University of Illinois Extension serving Bureau, LaSalle, Marshall, and Putnam Counties.  

The Bureau, LaSalle, and Marshall-Putnam 4-H programs have received a gift from the CME Group (Chicago Mercantile Exchange) to launch a new partnership that will connect the important work of the world's largest futures exchange company to the 4-H mission at the local level.  As the summer intern it was my responsibility to host the fun and engaging learning activity called The Commodity Carnival at each of the three county 4-H fairs.  

The Commodity carnival was made up of two hands-on mini-carnival activities to introduce the concepts of agricultural futures and options to the target audience of families and youth ages 8-14.  

As the participants go through the two mini-carnival stations, they will:

• Recognize what an agricultural commodity is and associate commodities with products.
• Learn what investments are required to raise a commodity (hogs).  
• Discover how a commodity's risks in getting to market factor into its selling price.

The Activities - The Commodity Carnival Activity Stations:


Station #1: Invest & Grow

Ryan and Owen Johnson raising their "hogs".

•  Participants receive an activity sheet and a plastic egg representing their hog.  Participants fill their plastic container with a range of items that represent the various investments needed to raise their hog.

 Station #2:  Pig-Linko Game

Breanne watches as Owen sends his "hog" to market.

• Participants send their sealed container down a "Pig-Linko" board obstacle course that represents risk factors beyond the producers' control affecting price at market.  Each container ultimately falls into a slot representing the final price for their commodity.

 It was really fun to watch the participants enjoy the activity while learning more about commodity futures markets.  The most interesting part of the activity was being able to observe as the participants realized the risks involved with raising an animal and also that not every time they raised a hog would it make a profit at market.  One participant said, "I now understand why my dad gets so frustrated with our hogs!"  It was a great activity for those 4-Hers that raise livestock and those that don't to have a great time while developing an understanding of the challenges faced by farmers who raise livestock.

Participants from Bureau County showing off their animal balloon prizes for making a profit!

My Journey as an Extenstion Intern for Cook County

I'm sad to say but my internship will be over August 16th. In these last two week I have really been preparing for the presentation that I have to give on August 12th to the educators and the director.  I have started working a Prezi which is similar to power point but much better.  This will be one of the most important and really only presentation that I have given in my college career.  I just cant focus all of my attention on presentation because I still have to finish my internship activity list, which has to be completed by the time my internship is over. Here is a list of activities that I have already completed or I'm almost done with:

•   Developed a fact sheet about worm composting that included getting started with a worm bin and caring/feeding your worms.

•  Learn about the marketing problems with extension and come up with different solutions.

• Created a PowerPoint about Health Rocks program catered to youth groups

•   Developed a survey for Extension Summer Outreach Program.

• Revised a job description for SPIN club.

•  Assist with Master naturalist course.

• Created at brochure about all of Extensions youth programs

• Helped my supervisor conduct the bug zoo in a Chicago Public School

• Met with John P. Daily to discuss Extension’s  future in his office with two co-workers

• Assisted a co-worker in creating and carrying out a lesson plan for youth

Extracted DNA.

My supervisor and I. I was extracting DNA from a Strawberry.

 I have been having so much fun so far and I'm excited to see how my internship will play into my major!