Summer Internship Program: Montgomery

Primary Program Area Focus: Horticulture and Landscape

The Lorene “Allie” Wright Clevinger Endowment for Virginia Cooperative Extension was established by her daughter, Donna Lynn Clevinger, Ph.D., in memory of her mother, who was a graduate of the landscape design program at Virginia Tech. The endowment established an internship program supporting experiential learning opportunities for Virginia Tech students who are interested in gaining professional experience in horticulture and landscape design.

1. Describe your plans for this internship.  (i.e. What specifically will the intern be doing?)

The intern will be assisting the Montgomery County office in creating and providing beneficial services to our citizens. Preference that programs receiving support will be those whose participants are undergraduate students in the Landscape, Horticulture and Design program in the School of Plant and Environmental Science, or other students with an interest in horticulture and landscape design. In specific, the intern will aid in creating and implementing of public horticulture programs focusing on designing landscapes to include native planting for pollinators and developing native pollinator walk. They will accompany the ANR agent in site visits to assist with horticulture related issues identification and trouble-shooting as well as collecting hay samples, if needed. The intern will learn the importance of building relationships with producers/landowners to discover and meet their true needs. The intern to help create marketing flyers and advertise for extension programs such as the VA Master Gardener College, National Pollinator Week events, etc. Opportunities will be provided for the intern to work with Master Gardeners conducting projects in the county. The intern will also be responsible for creating and implementing horticulture-focused youth programming and a horticulture and/or landscape design themed class during 4-H Camp. We hope to expose them to interdisciplinary programs working with FCS, FNP, 4-H, and ANR.

2.  Describe the knowledge / skills you expect the intern to gain from this experience.

Through participating in this internship, the intern should gain knowledge and skills in customer service, marketing, and best practices when educating the public via social media. The intern will also gain more hands-on skills in horticulture including soil sampling, landscape design to promote pollination, identifying and addressing horticulture related issues, and hay sampling. They will experience the process of program development, implementation, and evaluation. The intern will gain practice in public speaking as well as tailoring programs and messages to your prospective audience. They will also learn the benefits of partnerships exemplifying that team collaboration yields more impactful programming.

3.  How will the intern learn about the breadth of VCE and our various program areas?

On starting their position, we will give the intern a brief overview of VCE and the services we provide to our communities. Our intern will also aid in creating or implementing interdisciplinary programs that involve 4-H, FCS, FNP, ANR, and the Master Gardener Program giving them exposure to the many program areas.