Taking Over

     Today marks the completion of my third full week as acting SPIN Coordinator for the University of Illinois Extension office for Champaign County. My supervisor has left for maternity leave and returns to her position at the end of March. I have been preparing for this role since mid August, making sure I knew all the ins and outs of SPIN to make sure I'd be successful once I was on my own.
     The first week of being left to my own devices posed a few challenges that I met head on. So far I had been used to only corresponding with the clubs that I had started myself. Now, I have to correspond with every SPIN Club leader as well as plan with potential new SPIN Club leaders. Keeping every contact straight and ironing out individual club needs was a challenge at first, but I quickly got used to each club, and have set up an organization strategy that helps me keep focused on what needs to be accomplished.
     Along with keeping up with daily tasks as the acting SPIN Coordinator, I also am planning a big spring event for our 3 Horse SPIN Clubs. That planning takes a lot of my time and energy and it has helped teach me that I need to create a balance among all of my projects to make sure each item is getting completed instead of only focusing on the success of one.
     While it has been a challenge to get used to working on my own and having to create my own work, it has also been rewarding. At first, I was very worried that without someone assigning me daily tasks I wouldn't know how to use my time at work. However, I have realized working on every aspect of one position has allowed me the ability to create work to improve or adapt what I have been working on since the summer.

Fall at Champaign Extension Brings the Launching of Horse SPIN Clubs

     This fall at the University of Illinois Extension office for Champaign County kept me very busy working on multiple projects. Fall is a busy time of the year for Extension in general because the new 4-H year starts September 1st, which gets a lot of clubs starting up again.

first club meeting for Golden Riders- Pesotum

first club meeting for Horsery- Mahomet

     This fall my two Horse SPIN Clubs, which were a summer project of mine both started in September. It was great to see all of my hard work from the summer pay off with the start of the clubs. It took major preparation in order to get these clubs successfully off of the ground. Before the first meeting I had to compile risk management plans, organize enrollment forms for members, promote the club to bring in  members, as well as keep in touch with our new leaders to work towards the start of the clubs. I also had to attend the first 2 meetings of both horse clubs to introduce myself, get to know the new members, as well as observe how the leaders interact with the youth, and to collect enrollment information. It was a great success to see how much the kids and leaders loved working together and learning about horses.

Golden Riders club member using grant items

     With the creation of these clubs we were able to apply for a SPIN Grant that would give us $1,000 to buy supplies for our horse clubs to allow our leaders to better teach the kids how to work with horses. Once we got this approved we were able to purchase supplies for grooming kits, as well as riding equipment for one of our move advanced horse clubs. The leaders and members were both equally excited to receive the equipment and get to really learn more about horses. As the clubs keep progressing we look forward to the Spring when we will hold a Fun Show for our 3 Horse SPIN Clubs that will allow all of the clubs to come together for a friendly competition to show off the skills they have learned and acquired during the past year. Planning for the Fun Show with the leaders of these clubs will be beginning soon.

Persistence is Key

I serve as the Student Evaluation Assistant for the University of Illinois Extension. Over the summer of 2014 the 4-H Summer Nutrition Program provided workshops in many counties across Illinois. The workshop purpose was to inform the students about the importance of a healthy lifestyle and to provide tips and methods to ensure a healthy lifestyle for the students. The workshops were instructed by selected teen leaders from the 4-H program. My objective is to collect, analyze and enter the end of program survey evaluations into an online database. Initially I applied for another position through Extension and was turned down. After being interviewed the first time by my current supervisor Dr. Pennie Crinion, I believed  I made a great impression even though I was declined the offer. Persistent with my efforts, I constantly contacted Dr. Crinion about any positions available just to gain experience. A few weeks after being declined, I received an email from Dr. Crinion offering me the Student Evaluation Assistant. The most important lesson I learned during this experience is that persistence is vital and to always remain motivated.

New Orientation Program at IPM

With the internship at IPM now in the review mirror and the orientation power point project completed, I believe Integrated Pest Management research farm is now in a better place. With new interns coming in next summer, they will now be able to complete various tasks presented to them on a day to day basis. Since my experience at IPM was a successful one, I can separate the rights from the wrongs, giving me the ability to create a better orientation program with direct and visual information. The images that I took over the summer will also be provided to my supervisor for future research presentation for on the job experience. With the brunt of the job being involved with the Crop Sciences department, it is crucial that a sense of professionalism be installed into an organization such as this.

 

Putting up sticky traps is important to the research of these insects. These traps are put up in various bean fields across the state and trap different kinds of insects to see what insects are most populated in these areas. In this case, Corn Rootworm Beetle was main focus sense some of the population are found in soybean fields that are adjacent to corn fields.

On the job experience at IPM also means putting up tent traps for these Corn Rootworm Beetles as well. Sections of corn must be cut down for enough space to put up these tent traps. Once put up, Corn Rootworm Beetles will emerge from the soil and will have no where to escape so collection of these insects will be an easier process. This job is crucial to proper research of this corn dwelling pest.
 

In this picture, I am using a vacuum to suck the remaining beetles from the tent. During the time of this picture, most of the beetles were already caught since it was later in the summer. In this case, many of the beetles will tend to be at the upper corners of the tent. Most insects, when threatened, tend to fly upwards to escape, making their hiding spots easier to locate.

 

Now that the internship is over, I am excited that I had the opportunity study these beetles, design a new orientation program for future interns, and most of all; help farmers come up with new ways to maximize yield and minimize pests. Pest control is the name of the game in agriculture and I am satisfied that I could do my part to help.

Integrated Pest Management Internship Completion

So far this summer at Integrated Pest Management Farms here on campus, I have been given tasks that require hands on labor work that are both challenging mentally and physically. The work that an intern at IPM must complete is known as the "dirty work" for the bigger picture. This bigger picture is providing the research to university crop scientists to develop new and improved ways of controlling insect and weed populations that provide a harmful environment for the development and overall yields of crops.

 

Much of the labor that I have been assigned thus far this summer requires our internship crew to travel to the University of Illinois research plots which are scattered all over the state of Illinois. Interns are assigned to dig up corn roots in order to provide research data on root development from each type of seed variety. These sites include Urbana, Dekalb, Prophetstown, and Monticello. At these research fields, our crew is assigned to dig a set amount of roots from each seed variety. This set is usually amounted to 5-6 roots, depending upon variability of seed variety. The labor to dig these roots is usually pretty dreadful but this summer we have been blessed with decently cooler weather than most summers in the past. Just like any job in agriculture, the process of root digging is to be done in a timely manner since the job itself can sometimes drag on to 10-12 hour work days. We had to account for driving time since Dekalb and Prophetstown are more than 2 hours away from Urbana. However, once the root digging is complete for that respective site, root washing takes center stage.
 

Root washing, one of the more tedious jobs done at IPM, is the process of cleaning the dirt off the roots so it may be presentable to researchers. As a whole, our internship team this summer have washed off thousands of roots. Each one of these roots is labeled with a root tag so each root can be accounted for once washed. Thus far this summer, root washing has been one of the most simplest jobs. A job that doesn't necessarily require mental effort, it does require interns to wear rain suits since the power washers usually tend to blow water all over your body. You can't be afraid to get muddy or wet! If I ever come home from work without dirt stains on my clothes I know I didn't do my job right.
 

With only a couple weeks left in this internship at IPM, I'm starting to see light at the end of the tunnel. With all of the work put in, the long days working and on the road, I am really learning a lot about the Crop Sciences department and how a successful organization such as IPM should be run. Being an intern here really has put the whole agriculture field into perspective. With every corn plant harvested, someone had to put hours of labor into not only planting the corn itself, but designing a way to maximize the output of that corn plant by eliminating the pests that restrict yields and productivity. My job thus far has given me the opportunity to work behind the scenes of what makes successful soybean and corn yields. Knowing that the work I'm putting in is helping farmers for the future to feed the world is the most satisfying part of my job even if it is for only one summer.


As I complete my Independent Project, I will take into consideration the well being of future interns. Coming up with an Orientation Power Point presentation that goes along with our current orientation program will benefit the organization for years to come and provide insight to the tasks, goals, and expected work the job entails.