Utilizing Hands-On Approaches to Educate Jefferson County’s Youth on Current Natural Resources Topics
Primary Topic:
Natural Resources
Other Topics:
4-H & Youth, Agriculture, Horticulture, Emergency Management
Internship Overview:
Do you love natural resources, kids and teaching? This internship ties all three together! You’ll spend the majority of your time developing and delivering hands-on, activity-based lessons for underserved elementary aged youth in Jefferson County. Our mentor team is ready to help you develop the skills you need to succeed! Additionally, you’ll have the opportunity to expand your knowledge base of natural resources and/or horticulture topics and learn about Extension in Jefferson County.
Goals, Scope and Objectives:
This internship will focus on facilitating natural resources and horticulture programming for youth and adults in Jefferson County. Key activities will include planning, implementing, and evaluating one-time and weekly workshops that include interactive, hands-on activities. Programming will be targeted towards local low-income housing sites, underserved audiences, and communities within Jefferson County located in areas of high wildfire risk.
The intern will coordinate events and activities for youth throughout the summer and for the community at the Jefferson County 4-H Fair. The on-site supervisor team will work directly with the intern to help them develop these new and innovative programs. The intern will also develop two evaluation tools. One to assess the baseline knowledge of key natural resource topics of the general public, the second will be a post-workshop-series evaluation to measure teaching impact.
The intern will coordinate events and activities for youth throughout the summer and for the community at the Jefferson County 4-H Fair. The on-site supervisor team will work directly with the intern to help them develop these new and innovative programs. The intern will also develop two evaluation tools. One to assess the baseline knowledge of key natural resource topics of the general public, the second will be a post-workshop-series evaluation to measure teaching impact.
With which stakeholder group(s) will the intern work?
The main stakeholder groups for this internship are youth who are predominantly from underserved populations across Jefferson County. Individuals living in the foothills and mountain communities are a target population for fire mitigation education work.
What student learning outcomes do you anticipate and what are the opportunities for professional development?
The intern will learn about and experience best practice curriculum development and teaching strategies while working with diverse at-risk populations. They will have the opportunity to engage in hands-on learning, while practicing program development, delivery and evaluation. Throughout the internship, the student will be engaging with a diverse range of stakeholders and community partners. They will build professional relationships while practicing their networking skills in a supportive environment.
This internship has the flexibility to focus on the intern’s strengths and/or provide growth for intern’s interests. The intern will have the opportunity to gain more in-depth knowledge regarding key topics within the natural resources and horticulture fields, such as (but not limited to) ecological and natural resource management best practices for wildfire mitigation, preparedness, home hardening techniques and prescriptions related to Lower and Upper Montane forest restoration. Furthermore, the intern will have the ability to learn about research-based gardening practices, soil health and soil carbon cycling, and the complexities of the food system within Jefferson County.
This internship has the flexibility to focus on the intern’s strengths and/or provide growth for intern’s interests. The intern will have the opportunity to gain more in-depth knowledge regarding key topics within the natural resources and horticulture fields, such as (but not limited to) ecological and natural resource management best practices for wildfire mitigation, preparedness, home hardening techniques and prescriptions related to Lower and Upper Montane forest restoration. Furthermore, the intern will have the ability to learn about research-based gardening practices, soil health and soil carbon cycling, and the complexities of the food system within Jefferson County.
