Coming into this internship I really had no idea what I was getting into with the internship and being an Agriculture Communication major.I started out in college majoring in Animal Science because I really didn't know what I wanted to do. After coming down to Columbus I added on Agriculture Education, which I thought was what I was meant to do. But after finding out that standards were changing in that area I realized that I wasn't meant to be a teacher, that God had something else in mind for me. Unfortunately I was back to square one, not knowing what I wanted to do in life. I added on Agriculture Communication because I really just needed to figure out what I wanted to do, apparently I picked the right major. I've realized that Ag Comm is similar to Ag Ed but I can do more and reach out to more people. The only downside is that I really didn't understand the Ag Comm major. I could read and reread the description of an Agriculture Communication major but I would still have questions.
I also wasn't really sure of what I was actually going to do during my internship. Of course during the interview process, for my internship, I was told some of the tasks that I would have to help with. But this week really showed me that it's not just Ohio Proud and Ag is Cool.
During my first couple weeks with Ohio Proud I had to help get applications around for the 2013 Specialty Crop Block Grant. It was a boring and long process because I had to make so many copies of each application for all of the people on the review committee. The part I didn't know was that I would be seeing this through to the end. This week I got to sit in on the review committee meeting and hear from each applicant. I also sat in on the review process and got to hear the good and the bad of each project. I honestly had no idea what goes into trying to get a grant. This whole process has shown me even more about how things in the "real world" works.
While working with Ohio Proud I have realized that there is so much I can do in this field. Now I just have to narrow the list down. But that is part of the process and gets me one step closer to finding my "big girl " job :)
Friday, May 31, 2013
Thursday, May 23, 2013
ODA University
This week ODA put on an orientation for the rest of their interns called "ODA University". My boss decided that it would be a great opportunity for me, the other Ohio Proud intern and the Ohio Grape Industry intern to participate. ODA University went from Monday til yesterday and through out the week we learned a lot about all of the divisions of the Ohio Department of Agriculture.
On Monday one of the deputy directors, who came up with and put together this program, told us what all ODA did and took us on a tour of the different buildings. The tour didn't really go in depth but we did get to meet with one person from each department and hear a little overview.
The rest of the week we met as a group with the supervisor of each department where they went over in more detail what they do. We learned a lot throughout the week but what really surprised me was the ODA has an amusement ride safety division. They check every ride and game at all of the amusement parks, fairs, and festivals! They even inspect all of the rides at Ceder Point and Kings Island.
This week has been very informative and I have learned a lot. But the biggest thing I have learned is that all the divisions do so much. Yes some are more "attractive" than others but each one does a very important job and keeps agriculture safe.
On Monday one of the deputy directors, who came up with and put together this program, told us what all ODA did and took us on a tour of the different buildings. The tour didn't really go in depth but we did get to meet with one person from each department and hear a little overview.
The rest of the week we met as a group with the supervisor of each department where they went over in more detail what they do. We learned a lot throughout the week but what really surprised me was the ODA has an amusement ride safety division. They check every ride and game at all of the amusement parks, fairs, and festivals! They even inspect all of the rides at Ceder Point and Kings Island.
This week has been very informative and I have learned a lot. But the biggest thing I have learned is that all the divisions do so much. Yes some are more "attractive" than others but each one does a very important job and keeps agriculture safe.
Saturday, May 18, 2013
This week we started planning for Ag is Cool. I had to email a couple different people at the Ohio Department of Agriculture to get help with some of our activities. Because we are representing ODA we want to make sure that we do everything the right way.
With one of our activities we will have live animals so we really need to make sure that they are taken care of and handled the right way. If they aren't we could get in a lot of trouble, so to make sure that doesn't happen we set up a meeting with the guy in charge of animal health.
Two more of our activities include soil and none of us know anything about soil so we had to contact a couple of the guys in the soil department at ODA to help us and get us samples. It is really nice that most of the departments at ODA know or have heard about Ag is Cool so they are really willing to help!
Overall this week went really well and it's so nice to see our plans coming together and I'm really excited to see the final outcome!
With one of our activities we will have live animals so we really need to make sure that they are taken care of and handled the right way. If they aren't we could get in a lot of trouble, so to make sure that doesn't happen we set up a meeting with the guy in charge of animal health.
Two more of our activities include soil and none of us know anything about soil so we had to contact a couple of the guys in the soil department at ODA to help us and get us samples. It is really nice that most of the departments at ODA know or have heard about Ag is Cool so they are really willing to help!
Overall this week went really well and it's so nice to see our plans coming together and I'm really excited to see the final outcome!
Friday, May 10, 2013
Week 2 (1st full week)
Today marks the end of my second week and also the end of my first full week with Ohio Proud. This week was definitely slower than last week just because we didn't have an event. But that doesn't mean that we weren't busy. This week we followed up with the vendors that participated at the Ohio Food Forum and started planning for Ag is Cool at the state fair. I also did some office work (filling, responding to emails).
Overall it was a good week, but I'm really hoping it will pick up. I am really looking forward to all of the planning for Ag is Cool and all of our other events as well.
Overall it was a good week, but I'm really hoping it will pick up. I am really looking forward to all of the planning for Ag is Cool and all of our other events as well.
Sunday, May 5, 2013
Week 1-ish?
Friday ended my first three days at my internship with Ohio Proud at ODA. Going into this internship I was really nervous but by knowing the other intern with Ohio Proud really helped. On my first day, Wednesday May 1st, Kristin Kugler and Lori Panda showed me around and helped me set everything up. I put together packets for our meeting later that day with the deputy director. After lunch we went to a meeting with the deputy director and some of the other people involved with Ohio Proud. We talked about different things we could do for Ohio Proud's 20th anniversary at the state fair this year. Later after the meeting Kristin and I started getting things together for the Ohio Food Forum the next day. We left work early on Wednesday because we were going to meet up at 7:30 that night at the 4-H center to set up for the Ohio Food Forum(OFF). On Thursday we all met at the 4-H center bright and early to get ready for the OFF. Vendors started showing up at 8:30am and we showed them were to set up and gave them information packets. The buyers started showing up at 9:30am and we gave them a list of their meetings with the vendors. The OFF officially started at 10am. During the day we made sure that the meetings were going smoothly or trying to set up meetings if buyers didn't show up. I also tweeted about what was going on through out the day on the Ohio Proud twitter page and went around to take pictures of each of the vendor's booths and uploaded them to Ohio Proud's pinterest page. Friday was a slower day, I went through all of our vendors and looked to see who had renewed and who hadn't. The vendors who hadn't renewed I sent an email to to see if they still wanted to renew. I also sent out a couple other emails to people who had inquired about certain things( Ohio Proud shirts and buyers who want to get in touch with certain vendors). Overall I love my internship so far. I am really looking forward to learning and doing more with Ohio Proud. I really don't dislike anything yet. I'm sure I might get a little tired of being in an office but I think planning certain events will out weigh that.
Friday ended my first three days at my internship with Ohio Proud at ODA. Going into this internship I was really nervous but by knowing the other intern with Ohio Proud really helped. On my first day, Wednesday May 1st, Kristin Kugler and Lori Panda showed me around and helped me set everything up. I put together packets for our meeting later that day with the deputy director. After lunch we went to a meeting with the deputy director and some of the other people involved with Ohio Proud. We talked about different things we could do for Ohio Proud's 20th anniversary at the state fair this year. Later after the meeting Kristin and I started getting things together for the Ohio Food Forum the next day. We left work early on Wednesday because we were going to meet up at 7:30 that night at the 4-H center to set up for the Ohio Food Forum(OFF). On Thursday we all met at the 4-H center bright and early to get ready for the OFF. Vendors started showing up at 8:30am and we showed them were to set up and gave them information packets. The buyers started showing up at 9:30am and we gave them a list of their meetings with the vendors. The OFF officially started at 10am. During the day we made sure that the meetings were going smoothly or trying to set up meetings if buyers didn't show up. I also tweeted about what was going on through out the day on the Ohio Proud twitter page and went around to take pictures of each of the vendor's booths and uploaded them to Ohio Proud's pinterest page. Friday was a slower day, I went through all of our vendors and looked to see who had renewed and who hadn't. The vendors who hadn't renewed I sent an email to to see if they still wanted to renew. I also sent out a couple other emails to people who had inquired about certain things( Ohio Proud shirts and buyers who want to get in touch with certain vendors). Overall I love my internship so far. I am really looking forward to learning and doing more with Ohio Proud. I really don't dislike anything yet. I'm sure I might get a little tired of being in an office but I think planning certain events will out weigh that.
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