Short Week - Long List

After a long weekend, I started my short week of work in Hay Lakes feeling re-energized. This was a good thing, as I sat down to write out my summer work plan for the Village I was  realizing how ambitious this list of mine was beginning to look. Through my Community Service Learning experience at Augustana I have learned an important skill in understanding that every new job, placement or project has its own limitations. Usually these limitations are based on time - we simply never have enough of it, so it is important to set realistic deliverables that truly match the time parameters you are working with. I am trying to keep this in mind as I organize my summer to-do list, and in this moment, not sure what projects I am willing to say no to yet.

This week I worked on beginning to compile a first draft of a level of service document for the Village. This document, when finished will outline all the services the village offers to its residents as well as act as a guide for village employees as to how certain services should be executed, and what is expected from the village employee and the resident in certain situations. Ultimately, this document will be a guide for community members, council, administration and public works employees to reference so everyone is working off the same guiding principles in providing services to the village. I am referencing other service level documents from surrounding communities and talking with village employees in how this can be tailored to be a Hay Lakes specific document.

I also started researching how to conduct a municipal census. Next week I will be hitting the pavement (or gravel) and conducting an 'official' census for the Village. I think it will be really interesting getting to knock on doors and introduce myself, and I am also a littler nervous, as this is brand new to me, and you never know what to expect when knocking on doors. I am putting together a letter of introduction to hand out to community members to bring along with me on my data collection days, as well I may make myself an official, 'village census collector' pin (if interested in having a pin of your own made, please contact my blog site and I can get back to you about the low low cost of tailored made pins)

This week has felt full in the sense that I truly laid out the scope of work I am going to be embarking upon for the summer. I am aware that as I continue to go forward with work this summer, new projects that I had not even accounted for will most likely come forward, and things I believed to 'know for sure' will be revealed in a whole new light. This is most definitely part of the excitement of being a summer intern.

Settling Back into my Roots

There are a few things I have learned in my first week of work in the village of Hay Lakes. First, I think there is a saying that goes it takes a village to raise a child, well this is like that, except that instead of it being a child, or a village raising the child, it is that it takes a team to run a village.This team is comprised of community members, volunteers, village council, public works and administrative personnel. Without one of these very important team members the success of a village would be hindered. Second, people make a village, but municipal policy and procedures is what makes a village go round. Policy is critical to how everything happens in the village from snow removal to sidewalk inspection, to budget allocations and the planning and implementation of new developments. It is these policies that build a foundation for a strong, viable municipality. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, no matter how long you have been away from a small community it doesnt take much to make you feel like you've never truly left, with one of my co-workers telling me stories of my growing up years in Hay Lakes and believe it or not after 18 years of not living in Hay Lakes still remembering my birthday, it was warming to be reminded of my roots in the village of Hay Lakes.

With stories of what it was like the years my dad was on village council, and reading the policies from years and years ago that list my old next door neighbour as the go to guy for village snow inquiries, I feel honored to be back in Hay Lakes to discover more about what truly makes this village go round, as well as making a small difference towards creating a stronger, sustainable community. It's not everyday that you find people who can recall the day you were born, or have an old neighbour come in to pay a water bill and recall the summers she spent babysitting you.

My first week as intern in Hay Lakes was about settling into the village office, setting up my summer work station, re-acquainting myself with some old neighbours and beginning to learn more about all the projects I will be apart of this summer.

Rural Capacity Internship: An Introduction

The Rural Capacity Internship is an opportunity for University of Alberta students to begin to explore and make meaningful connections between the university and rural communities. As students we have been given community placements all over Alberta. We will be facing new and exciting challenges in our host communities and have the opportunity to work with university faculty in researching programs and projects  that promote rural capacity and sustainability.

Lucky enough to be chosen as a summer intern I have been assigned to the host community of Hay Lakes, Alberta. Hay Lakes is a village located about 30 kilometers north of the city of Camrose and has a population that as of the 2008 census is at 429 citizens. I have lived in Camrose for the majority of my life, however part of who I am is rooted in this small village just off of Highway 21. My grandparents spent most of their lives working a farm just outside of Hay Lakes and thus formed strong ties to the village of Hay Lakes. Just as my own dad did, I spent the first part of my life playing in the prairie sun and it is these first few memories of mine that have me looking forward to my rural capacity internship experience.

 I am excited to be returning to Hay Lakes with an opportunity to work in partnership with the community and the University of Alberta. I am not sure what the summer will hold yet, but I am certain that it will be filled with new learning experiences, exciting challenges, and alot of new adventures.

 Stay tuned to follow me on my summer of rural adventures in Hay Lakes...