Ashton Meints of Plymouth, Neb., will spend her summer working in extension offices in Nebraska's four southeast counties: Nemaha, Pawnee, Richardson and Johnson.
Meints is one of the five interns with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension's 2011 summer internship program. So far, Meints said she has learned a lot.
"One of the biggest things that I've learned in how much extension can vary," Meints said. "When I was younger, I thought it was all about 4-H."
But after just three weeks in the Nemaha County Extension Office, Meints has learned that extension can involve activities such as planning workshops for 4-H members, pesticide training, planning tours and even going to "people's lawns to help them with their tree issues."
The extension internships benefit students by giving them hands-on experience, said Kathleen Lodl, assistant dean of UNL Extension.
"The intent is for them to get an idea of the different aspects of extension," Lodl said, "to see if they really want pursue a career in extension."
The program also benefits UNL and the extension counties where the extension interns are based, because the interns are able to plan programs and workshops for the surrounding community, Lodl added.
Out of the numerous activities she helps with, Meints said her favorite part of the job has been teaching quality assurance workshops to 4-H youth. "I really love the combination of education and agriculture," she said.
Like Meints, fellow intern Bailey Lammers of North Bend, Neb., learned that extension encompasses much more than she thought.
"I think that most people just think of 4-H when they think extension and that's not the case," Lammers said, adding that the internship is giving her a "good look at the day and life of an extension educator."
Lammers is an intern at Saunders County Extension Office in Ithaca, Neb. She has developed online videos and tutorials to teach 8- to 10-year-olds about medications and vaccinations for livestock, and tutorials for 15- to 18-year-old kids on livestock nutrition.
In addition to workshops, Lammers helped coordinate summer workshops, such as one for ATV safety training.
Lammers graduated May 2011 with a degree in animal science and plans to go to vet school this fall. But in the meantime, she said she's getting "a well-rounded experience" and she enjoys putting her "newly graduated knowledge to work."
That's also what another intern, senior horticulture entrepreneurship major Molly Trausch, is doing with plant knowledge she's learned in the classroom.
"I have been able to see exactly how extension works by making house calls to identify plants and pest problems," she said.
Trausch, from Minden, Neb., is working at the Fillmore County Extension Office in Geneva, Neb., this summer. She said she plans to be a rural extension educator when she graduates.
"It was something I grew up knowing," said Trausch, who was a 4-H member for 11 years. "I've always liked how extension takes the research from UNL and provides it to the community members in rural Nebraska."
On the other hand, Devin Dauel, a senior agricultural economics and agronomy major from York, Neb., said he's still looking at career options, and extension might be one of them.
"It's a potential career path that I figured I'd explore," Dauel said. "I've never seen the educational side of agriculture, so I thought I'd try something different."
As an intern in the state 4-H office in Lincoln, Dauel said he really enjoys getting to work on a variety of projects at a time. Among his many projects, he is researching how to develop an Apple application for healthy eating and snacking.
But what Dauel really looks forward to is being outside. He said he'll get to do that in June when he helps out with the Big Red Summer Academic Camp, a youth summer camp that explores many topics including culinary arts and food science, entrepreneurship, filmmaking, textile design and veterinary science.
Brown, Rock and Keya Paha Extension Office intern Katie Frenzen has also gotten to plan an entrepreneurship camp, in addition to a healthy eating workshop and a range workshop.
Frenzen, a junior agricultural education major who hails from Fullerton, Neb., said she's enjoyed meeting people from the community and in the office, located in Ainsworth, Neb.
"Everyone in extension has been very open and welcoming," she said.
When she graduates, Frenzen said, she wants to teach high school in a rural community but she also wants to work with extension in some way. She encourages her peers to apply for the internship so they can experience extension for themselves.
"They really treat you like a professional here, and it's a good opportunity to get your feet wet," Frenzen said.