Farm Safety Days

Throughout my internship at Carle, I have been working all semester for the Progressive Ag Safety Days events put on by Carle.  This spring there were three safety days.  These safety days were in Gibson City, Piatt County, and Vermilion County.  These safety days range for students in 4^th to 6^th grade depending on the school.  According to Carle, 

“each year, more than 100 children are killed in farming accidents nationwide.  These hands-on safety days teach children how to accept responsibility for their own safety, how to deal with farm emergencies and what it would be like to live with the consequences.  School staff and community leaders help select topics that are most appropriate for their community.”

Part of my job relating to these safety days has been many different tasks.  I have contacted schools to verify classes attending, teacher names, and phone numbers.  I have created excel sheets with each teacher and his or her class.  After creating the excel sheets I organized classes and teachers by schools and then by each safety day.

Another part of preparing for the safety days is creating nametags for each student and teacher.  A student and teacher each get a nametag, lanyard, and goodie bag.  Stuffing goodie bags and teacher packets were long days of organization, attention to detail, and volunteers who came in to help.  Without volunteers and organization the process of preparing materials for the safety days would take much longer. 

Students and teachers also get a safety day t-shirt.  This year there were close to 900 hundred t-shirts.  Amy, my supervisor, and I spent a couple days sorting through them and putting them into categories by class and then by school.  Below is a photo of the sorting day. 

This past Friday was the first safety day.  I helped with the set up, took photos for Amy and led two different stations.  I taught students about chemical safety and water safety. Below are some pictures of the safety day.  This coming week I will be preparing for the Vermilion County safety day, which is May 16^th.  This will be the last day of my internship and I couldn’t think of a better way to leave! I am excited to see the final product of my internship.   

This is a picture during the chemical safety station.  Here the students learned about chemical look-a-likes by guessing which was the chemical from each pair. 

Here, Blaire and I taught students about water safety, giving personal experiences of water safety.  We also did an activity using life rings.  We had students practice tossing life rings to a safety cone, pretending the cone were a drowning victim and helping them when they were in need.

Ending the Year at DMBGC

So as the school year comes to a close, and I am finishing my time here at the Don Moyer's Boys and Girls Club, I am a little sad to go.  The Club has definitely grown to have a soft spot in my heart for many reasons.  I have been exposed to all type of experiences dealing with education, youth, and leadership, just in this one internship at DMBGC.  I have grown and learned a lot, and I have to give a big thanks to DMBGC for allowing me to intern at their club.

A very big task I worked on while interning at the club, was the SmartGirls program.  This program was started by my supervisor Debarah McFarland.  When I joined the team, Debarah and I worked together to create a program that was very beneficial for the girls.  It was more than just meeting once a week to talk about self-development in teen girls, it was about changing their lives for the better.  Creating a positive environment for the girls where they can be themselves and gain whatever it was they needed to gain to better their lives, was our first and only priority with this program.

An event that SmartGirls was apart of was an all-girls lock-in at the club.  The theme of the lock-in was "Being a Queen", and it was a success.  In the lock-in, we engaged in all types of activities from panel discussion, group talks, red-carpet fashion show, and even making care packages for a local women's shelter.  I will say that all of us (me) did not make it through the whole night! Zzzzzz

However, through the whole experience, I am pleased to say that I did it and I would do it over and over again.  My time at the club was great and I hope that they continue to grow, and remember me!!!