Region 1- Week 4

I grew up in a town with less than 900 people in Northeast Iowa, the people that live there are always eager to catch up whenever the opportunity arises. I see community members, teachers, and past classmates. Some have/are pursuing degrees in the medical field, business, communication and the list goes on. One thing we always touch on in conversation is how the summer experiences are going. Some will tell me in the jobs they have/had entailed getting coffee for others, some tell me they make copies for presentations, and others share that they sit around all day begging for something to do to change up the pace of their summer job/internship.
Then they turn to me and ask, “Yeah, so how’s your summer been going?”
I always freeze and do a little nervous laugh.
How do I tell them that I’m having the time of my life?
How do I share with them the interesting people I’ve met in the short 4 weeks I’ve been here?
How I do begin to share about the awesome programs we are building curriculum for and implementing in the community?
Someone tell me how?!
I start little by little, I share a bit about the engaging programs we started just last week. We started our PoP (Power of Produce) in Rock Rapids and we had a fantastic turnout. The kids played a game of Vegetable Bingo while learning about the different nutrients that are found in each.

I tell them a little bit about the awesome kids we are working at Bright Beginnings Daycare in Sibley where we prepped, planned, and got ready for planting our garden together. I also share about what a neat experience it was to help plan a Bike-N-Bite bike ride around the Lakes, riders took a 17 mile bike ride and stopped at local vendors for a taste of their creations. We had right around 240 people participate, and we couldn’t be happier with how the event went.
The thing of it is, I often feel as though this internship has been more fun than work. Every day is new and different and incredibly exciting from the time we put on those red polos to the time we take them off at the end of the day.

 

Until next time,

Kassidy Kuhlmann