Joanna Lininger
senior
agricultural communication
This summer, my final internship was with OSU Extension Marion County. My mentor was ACEL graduate, Margo Long. Prior to this internship my only knowledge of OSU Extension was its role in 4-H, but through this experience I had the chance to learn its many other functions. I started working at the Marion County Extension office on June 4, 2018 with an internship orientation at the 4-H Center on The Ohio State University campus in Columbus. After the training day, I jumped right in to working on projects and assignments from Margo. I wrote lesson plans for activities that were completed at the Cloverbud Day Camp, painted the picture frames given to the Cloverbuds and created examples of crafts to show the Cloverbuds. During my first week, I was able to attend meetings with Margo including a Marion County Senior Fair Board meeting, a camp counselor meeting and a meeting with the director of the new Children’s Museum in Marion. The next week I was able to assist in running the Cloverbud Day Camp.
My next project was designing and implementing the STEM at the Fair activities that took place during the Marion County Fair. Running a project from start to finish was a great experience. Some of the activities included making paper airplanes, making straw rockets, playing with robots, making salsa, playing with VR and making meditation bottles. I coordinated the STEM at the Fair activities each day of the fair and assisted with any other tasks around the fair needing attention. I had so much fun getting to interact with the youth at the Marion County Fair.I got to know many amazing 4-H members, families in the community, and Junior and Senior Fair Board members throughout the week. I made a lot of memories during the fair and got the chance to learn in the process.
After the fair, there were only ten days until we left for Marion County 4-H Camp held at Camp Ohio. I had never been to Camp Ohio, so it was a whole new camp experience for me. Working with the campers, counselors and adult staff was a real pleasure. Also, I had the privileged of putting together the end of camp video. There were a few late nights of work, but I would not have traded the experience for anything. I will forever be grateful for the opportunities that I had at the 2018 Marion County 4-H Camp.
When we returned from camp, I had the chance to help the other educators in our office as well as the SNAP-ED team. It was enlightening to see the different sides of what Extension does to help farmers as well as other community members. Working with OSU Extension Marion County was an amazing experience that I would recommend to anyone. I am thankful to have gotten to spend the summer with a dedicated mentor and meet many wonderful people throughout my internship.
Joanna Lininger, agricultural communication
Lininger working with youth
Lininger working an activity with 4-H’ers