My Summer at Staff Human Resources UIUC

This summer, I will be interning at Staff Human Resouces at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. My supervisor is Heather Horn, Labor and Employee Relations Coordinator. Labor and Employee Relations (LER) is a section of Staff Human Resources and handle matters related to Civil Service (Union) employees. The LER department is comprised of 6 staff who are resources for the entire campus and thousands of Union employees. They negotiate the 21 Collective Bargaining Agreements UIUC has, hear and render grievance decisions, advise departments on how to handle disciplinary situations, and hold pre-disciplinary meetings.

My project was focused on the employee relations aspect of Labor and Employee Relations.  For each disciplinary situation, I created a case analysis for the individual which was used and reviewed by the Labor and Employee Relations representative. After a department brings forth a problem with an employee, I will read the contractual language related to discipline, assess how egregious the act was, and review the employee’s discipline and personnel file to understand their employment history.  Then I will put together the relevant facts, past history, questions for further analysis, and an overview of the big picture into a document and made a recommendation for which disciplinary step to take.

My expectations for this summer are very high! I felt very happy to know I am the only undergraduate LER has ever had as an intern. They usually only take graduate students from the Labor Relations College. This fact makes me very eager to do a great job. I am looking forward to learning about University Human Resources and see what a Labor and Employee Relations representative does. I know there will be a steep learning curve, but Heather is a wonderful supervisor and I feel confident I will learn and be able to contribute a lot.

One event I was able to attend was a talk Heather was giving to a department about the differences in their coworkers. In a single department there are faculty, civil service workers, academic professionals, and more. Although these employees work together, their benefits, hours, and expectations can greatly vary. For example, faculty do not have set hours. They work until the job is done or until they feel they are able to stop for the day. This is opposite to Civil Service employees because they have set hours, job descriptions and expectations, and cannot work late unless approved. These differences were creating tension between some coworkers, so this talk was an attempt to clear any confusion and an opportunity for the employees to ask questions. It was very informational for me because I was not aware of the differences between employees and how that can affect an office.

 

Wait, You Mean I Have to Leave?

After being back to school for a little over a week, I remince on how fast this summer went by. My three months with Extension proved to be extremely worthwhile, and even though I had some tough times, I wouldn't have had it any other way.

With my first independent project not going as planned, I had to step it up, and come up with another plan of action. I was finally able to complete my project, and I had such a great time teaching my group of 8, ranging from five to seven years old, all about water, soil, and buoyancy.

The day of my program was very busy. I ended up practicing one of my activities out at a preschool called Daytime Discoveries in Valmeyer, IL. There were some kinks during this trial, but I had a better idea how to go about it for my actual program that evening. After I did my  activity at the preschool, I went back to the Extension office to put a tentative plan together for that night. If I had learned anything from the rest of my time at Extension it was that you can never have a completely structured plan, especially with this age group, so being as adaptable as possible was my only hope.

It took me all the time I had to get everything set-up and pre-made. Naturally, I kept thinking of "great ideas" that I thought would help me be more organized during the program, but in reality they were just time-consuming efforts that nearly made me late to my own program. The youth have a good time making Lakes in a Bottle, Soil Property Cups, and playing Will It Sink or Will It Float? They also seemed to really take to the curriculum which was a great relief. I learned that if you have a really good and educational, yet fun activity to do that they are in that curious age, and will be willing to go above and beyond to learn about what you're trying to teach. I'm really glad I was able to do this program because it taught me a lot about myself, and how I viewed working with youth.

All the youth waiting to get food
dye added to their Lakes in a Bottle

Cohen, Molly, Ellie, and Ashton all patiently
waiting to make their Soil Property Cups!

Ellie and Ashton picking out their
items for our buoyancy game of
  Will It Sink or Will It Float?

        Overall, I'm glad I was presented with this opportunity this summer, and I can't thank Unit 22 enough for making my first internship a great experience.

What is a SAI?

SAI or Summer Ag Institute is where teachers from each county spend typically three or four days learning about agriculture. At a SAI they have numerous speakers come in, visit local farmers, and do activities to promote agriculture. I got asked on a number of occasion to come to these counties and be one of the guest speakers. I would talk about something as complex as a cows stomach to as basic as making sure people know that hamburger doesn't come from pigs. Being at these was very beneficial for improving my public speaking skills because you never know what you are going to get asked. I attended 8 SAI's this summer but also sent information about the cattle industry to any other county that asked me to go but I couldn't make it to. What I talked about at these SAI's is promoting the IBA website by showing what I put together for teachers on it. I had numerous materials I feel is ready for the classroom to make teachers want to teach it. I received a lot of positive feedback and knowing that these teachers will educated their students about what I love in their classrooms is a very rewarding feeling to me.

A Summer to Remember

Outside of my internship duties, I got to experience how corporate mergers work. Ironically both companies acquired other smaller companies. So I got to see how the process of restructuring and early retirement worked. It caused a lot of chaos in both companies but served as a great reality check for me. Growing up as a farm kid I never had to deal with corporate stuff since both my parents worked on farms. I also learned from my boss how important it is to balance work and your personal life. I spent a lot of  my free time with his children and sheep. It was neat to see how he balance traveling all the time with his family and sheep business.




I also got to be part of Elanco launching their first vaccine buy in program. They recently just broke into the vaccine market. Normally they offer programs for feed additives and other quick fix shots (Mycotil). Their primary focus use to be feedlots and cow-calf producers but now they are trying to build stronger relationships with veterinarians. My project this summer concluded that Elanco reps do not have a strong enough presence in clinics. Many people did not know who their rep was or if they would ever come back around after I left. The company learned that many vets are apprehensive about doing business with them because of what my data collection found.

What a Summer

Corn being harvested

On August 6, our whole Central Illinois Practical Farm Research Facility team traveled on Beck's private Learjet down to Moody, Texas to observe corn harvest. Riding on the Learjet was a very neat experience. We left from the airport in Pontiac, Illinois and got to the airport in Temple, Texas in just under an hour and a half. It was crazy traveled at speeds up to 550 miles per hour.

The Jet was really cool, but what we went do to observe was the Texas Corn Harvest. This wasn't your typical corn harvest though, as this corn being harvested was the first commercial corn that was planted using a multi-hybrid planter. The multi-hybrid planter allows for a farmer to change hybrids and population throughout the field as soil type changes. This planter when it becomes more available in future years will really help farmers maximize profits by getting the most out of their fields by allowing them to use plant aggressive hybrids on productive soils and defensive hybrids on less productive soil. It was also really neat seeing how different the corn grows in Texas, than Illinois. Their corn is a lot smaller and the grasshoppers are so bad that there were hardly any leaves left on the stalk. It was also very different seeing a lot of cotton and sorghum. 

Cotton Field

Corn About to be harvested

After we returned from Texas, our Central Illinois Field day came very quickly. We worked extremely long hours in preparation for field day On August 14, we hosted over 1,050 farmers. It was a crazy day there people everywhere. My job for the day was to mainly help people find tours to take around the farm. We had seven tours that featured topics on corn hybrids, soybeans hybrids, herbicides, pesticides, nitrogen, and agricultural technology. I also, got to talk to people out my independent project and that was very rewarding because they really appreciated all the work that went into planting and maintaining the population wheels. I also meet and talk briefly to the president of Beck's Sonny Beck which was a really cool experience.

Watering Corn Population Wheel

Working for Beck's hybrids was a great experience and I learned a lot agronomic information. It was a great summer and I'm really glad I worked for Beck's.

 

The Beginning of an End

Manhattan Village Mall renovation proposal

With the summer quickly coming to an end, I am mind-blown at how fast it has gone by. I have had one of the best experiences of my life, and I have developed into a better leader than I was at the beginning of the summer. Although I have had other internship opportunities in the past, I have learned the most from this experience. I feel that the main reason on why I have gained more from Mixagogo than any of the others is because I had a mentor. My supervisor, Joanne, gave me guidance, focus, and direction while working for Mixagogo, and I must say, those aspects was crucial to helping me stay motivated throughout the summer. Along with having a great mentor, the Mixagogo experience was more outstanding than the others because I was out of my comfort zone. Moving to another state for months at a time is a big culture shock, to me at least, and a great way to develop as a professional or person in general.

A mixer held at Uncorked, a popular wine store in Hermosa Beach, CA 

My supervisor fascinated by the ukulele player

At the beginning of my summer, I was doing a lot of behind-the-scenes work, but as the summer moved forward, I started gaining more experience with social networking up-front and in person. I was able to expand and meet so many new people throughout the multiple networking events that I attended. One of the aspects that was most intriguing to me were the stories and backgrounds that I heard from the professionals I met throughout my time at Mixagogo. Everyone seemed to have so many exciting adventures leading up to their successes in the present day. I must admit, I wouldn't have met as
many people as I did without having Joanne introduce me to as many people as she could. I really wouldn't have had as good of an experience if it weren't for her. Not only did this internship allow me to practice sales and gain experience, but I was also able to work in the areas of marketing and operations. With the opportunity to explore these other areas, I found a love for marketing. I always thought I would have gone into sales for a career, but I found that marketing not only offers the same type of work, it allows for more creativity in the workplace. Throughout my college career, I have been trying to find the right career path for me and I have always wanted to use more creativity when it comes to being in a professional environment. Working through the marketing department for Mixagogo has proven to me that marketing is the career path that I want. I was able to create video commercials, advertisements to insert into e-mails and on the web page, and meet new people, all at the same time.

In the end, I am very blessed to have had the opportunity to experience something out of the ordinary and better my self as a leader throughout the last 2 months. I was able to work in many different areas and gain a larger network of individuals that are willing to help me with whatever it is I may need now or in the future.  I have also found a career path that has helped me gain direction as to where I want to go, and permanently moving to California may be the first step in the start of the next chapter of my life.

University of Illinois Extension Champaign County - Creating Horse SPIN Clubs

     My main project of my internship experience was to create horse SPIN Clubs around Champaign county. To understand this project you must first understand what a SPIN Club is and how it differs from a 4-H Community Club. A SPIN Club is a special interest club where five or more young people learn about a topic of interest. Topics vary and include interests such as nature, heritage arts, science, photography, gardening, shooting sports, and more. SPIN Clubs are led by volunteers who have a passion and want to share their knowledge with young people. SPIN Clubs only need to meet for a minimum of 6 times, with the hopes of keeping the club running long therm. With that in mind, my project was to create SPIN Clubs around Champaign county that would focus on learning about horses. 4-H Community Clubs are what you would term your basic 4-H Clubs. These clubs are led by one or more volunteers, and they focus on more than one project area. Kids in these clubs choose their own project that they work individually on with the end goal of exhibiting that project at their county fair. In these clubs children may learn about one topic one meeting and then something completely different the next meeting, this is where 4-H Community Clubs differ from the SPIN Clubs, since they learn about one topic each meeting but grow in expertise as they continue.

Westbrook Stables - Mahomet

     When I first started back in May my initial assignments was to recruit volunteers from the community that would be interested in leading these clubs. I first started by looking up local horse barns and contacting them by email. In total I reached out to 10 different horse barns, farms, and operations. I had about 4 respond to me with 2 clubs actually getting formed. After I had email correspondence from these potential volunteers, I then had to schedule a meeting time with them where I could explain the roles of being a SPIN Club leader and how to get started. My first meeting was in Mahomet at Westbrook Stables, which occured on only my 4th day of my internship! I had the assistance of my SPIN Coordinator, Melissa Bender, whereas she attended this meeting with me and helped me explain the parts that I was still unsure of when pitching to our potential volunteer. This meeting went very well as they will be one of our formed SPIN Clubs. Our next successful SPIN Club came out of Pesotum at Healing Horses Stables, a therapeutic riding barn. This meeting was the second one I completed on my own, where I went to the location and provided our SPIN Club pitch alone. Along with finding SPIN Club leaders, I also have to recruit the youth who will be participating in these clubs. This included creating a flier, sending a newsletter, and even advertising on Facebook. I was then responsible for organizing a way to answer all questions and concerns as well as keep track of who is interested in what club so that I can contact them once the club is ready to begin.
     After I explained to potential leaders what a SPIN Club is I then give them a volunteer screening packet that they must complete in order to be a volunteer with Extension. Before we can move further along the process of forming a club this form must come back to the office and be approved through the various checks that are required. This is where we got held up in forming our clubs. The screening process is hard to judge how long it will take as some checks are out of our control. We finally had most of our volunteers screened by the end of July, so we were allowed to start continuing on with getting our Horse SPIN Club formed.

Horse SPIN Club Leader Training - Pesotum Leaders

     After a volunteer leader is approved they then must go through leader training given by Melissa and myself. We held a meeting for both our Mahomet and Pesotum leaders together so that they could meet each other, share ideas, and get trained at once. We spent and hour and a half going through the 4-H basics, 4-H policies, defining what a SPIN Club is, planning procedures for SPIN Clubs, risk management, and other related topics. The meeting was successful when we finally got start dates and times set up for the clubs. Because of how the 4-H year works our clubs actually will not be able to begin until September. With our leaders being trained and ready to go I could then move onto the next step of contacting our youth. From now until our club starts I will be working on getting responses from the youth to see if they are still interested in joining the Horse SPIN Clubs as well as mailing them the necessary forms for them to enroll.
     From this 3 month long experience I learned that things do not go as planned. We initially thought that our Mahomet club would have been started before July. However, with the screening process this was out of our control. This dilemma did allow for me to focus on other projects at the time, but it would've been nice to have our youth participate in a summer club. Another small victory for us is that both of our Horse SPIN Clubs plan to extend their clubs past the 6 meeting time minimum and want to be long term clubs. It will be a great experience for me to see both of these clubs grow and continue as I will be interning with Extension throughout the school year.