Summer Internship Program: Amelia County

Primary Program Area Focus:  4-H, ANR, and FCS

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

The intern will support the Amelia County Extension office by working with agents to market and implement educational programs within the community:

1.     4-H Youth Development Programming Support

• Receive 4-H curriculum training for implementation in day camp settings
• Provide planning & programming support for Intermediate Congress at VSU, assist agent with residential camp preparations
• Provide support to 4-H clubs and volunteers to market 4-H programs to community partners

2.     Agriculture and Natural Resources and Farmer’s Market Support

• Support agent in social media marketing and updates
• Provide support to Farmer’s Market marketing/outreach, vendor recruitment, and Extension Help Desk
• Assist the ANR agent on farm visits and meetings

3.     Family and Consumer Sciences and Specialty Programs Support

• Assist agent with the recruitment, implementation, and management of the Master Food Volunteer and Financial Educator Volunteer Programs
• Provide support to FCS, ANR agents, and Master Volunteers with planned market events, food demonstrations, VCE educational exhibits, and information delivery
• Assist with documenting evaluation of planned programs
• Support agent with social media marketing and updates

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

The intern will gain skills in marketing and communications, public relations, youth development programs, volunteer recruitment, educational programming principles in nutrition, finance, agriculture, youth development, time management and recordkeeping.

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

Our office staff includes Family and Consumer Sciences, 4-H and Youth Development, and Agriculture and Natural Resources Extension agents. We actively work with our local community partners and with the local government systems in planning and implementing programs. Each agent has responsibilities managing our social media marketing pages: VCE Facebook, Ag Blog, weekly newspaper articles, Extension programming, and a monthly Unit newsletter. The intern will gain knowledge of the VCE programmatic process, attend and participate in program planning meetings, assist with the implementation of programs, assist with volunteer management, Extension Help Desk, and interact with clientele in all the Extension programming areas.  The intern will spend approximately two weeks with each agent.  As time permits, the intern will have specific experiences in an area of interest.  The intern will be exposed to the daily activities of Family & Consumer Sciences, 4-H, and Agriculture and Natural Resources agents in a rural Virginia community setting.