Last week was my elected turn to speak at one of the few planned research luncheons. The lunch provided an opportunity for research students and faculty to come together and share what they are up to this summer. I will admit I was expecting a small intimate gathering, but instead found myself in a rather full 'Eppicenter' with fellow peers and professors who came to listen to the research updates from summer students. It was a little intimidating sharing my summer work and research with the room, but when it was all said and done I believe it was well received and turned out to be a good experience for me.
Sharing my experiences at the research lunch made me realize that as a rural capacity intern I have been given a special and unique opportunity that has allowed me to become a part of the village office and ultimately the community of Hay Lakes. I find that with this internship I am not just engaging my research skills but that I get to transcend journal articles and databases and take part in a multitude of different tasks on a daily basis. This is an incredibly valuable learning experience as I am discovering new things about rural Alberta, and specifically Hay Lakes each and everyday.
With less than a handful of houses to gather census information from I can honestly say I am happy that this specific project is coming to an end. When I was first given the task of census collector I thought it was pretty straightforward, but I had no idea how time consuming such a project could be. Ensuring I had hit every home in the village, and then trying to contact those people while they were at home proved to be quite the task.
Last week I spent all day Friday on campus for our intern mid-point check in. This was a great day and was incredibly refreshing to touch base with my fellow interns who are all having similar summer experiences. It allowed for alot of great conversation and further refelction to unfold as well as an opportunity to sit down with our research groups and make our research project a little more clear.
With a few big projects now checked off my summer to-do list I am beginning to focus my energy on my last big project as a rural intern. This project will be to create somewhat of a viablity action plan for the village of Hay Lakes. I find myself lacking a little bit of confidence as I move forward with this project. Not only is creating a document of this nature new to me, which poses a bit of a challenge but I want this to be a useful plan for the village. My success with this depends alot on receving support from council. This project will be a true test of experiential learning, and typical of this style an outcome is impossible to predict
Monday 27 June 2011
Thursday 16 June 2011
Safety First
A Safety Manual is an important document for a Village. It outlines safety procedures, practices and emergency information that is critical to village operations. As an intern I got the task of taking the existing village safety manual and updating it, as well as creating a digital copy. This week my energy was mainly focused on this task of creating a comprehensive safety manual for the village. My work included creating new safety documents, re-writing safe job procedures and compiling it all in one concise document. I must admit, although this has not been one of my favorite intern tasks thus far, being able to produce a finished product for my supervisor felt really great. Taking on the safety manual was a big job, and I know that for the other two administrators (who work really hard at answering day to day questions, and working on all other village matters) finding the time to sit down and do this task can be nearly impossible.
Another project I am currently working begins by looking at questions of sustainability or viability for a smaller community. I know that in our orientation week we focused alot on identifying issues that rural Albertan communities face. Interestingly enough, in the classroom I felt like responses to these issues were clear and much more tangible. Being present in the community you hear about the issues, and you are able to identify them, but instead of just listing off possible responses or 'solutions' for lack of a better word, I find myself totally stunned. All the dimensions of community sustainability are linked to one another in incredibly complex ways, and in ways that you didn't even know existed before being involved in the community. For me, being in the community, and truly witnessing these intiricate dynamics has been a very valuable learning experience. It has also opened my eyes to the fact that in attempts to create strong and viable communities, focus becomes pinned on long term goals and future aspirations; however the process of striving towards sustainability and the reality of bringing awareness and creating movement around this topic is too of critical importance and should be acknowledged. This brings alot of questions to the surface for me as to what shape this project will take, and in what way I will emabrk upon it.
In other Intern news...I just wanted to give a quick shout out to Prairie Fun Days! Hay Lakes is stop number 8 on the fun days tour. On August 20th and 21st people can either take a day or two and make their way through, visiting all 11 stops of the fun days tour, or swing by the Hay Lakes stop which will take place at Telegraph Park. Throughout the day there will be activities going on at Telegraph park.|You can come and particpate in craft making, take a look around the park and get a feel for what the historical park was like, hunt out some geocaches, or take a look at the solar-powered scout cabin. Also there will be a lunchtime BBQ available as well as refreshments throughout the day! If you can't make prairire fun days, Telegraph park still offers some really great activities, with a stocked trout pond, hiking trails and a beautiful campsite.
Another project I am currently working begins by looking at questions of sustainability or viability for a smaller community. I know that in our orientation week we focused alot on identifying issues that rural Albertan communities face. Interestingly enough, in the classroom I felt like responses to these issues were clear and much more tangible. Being present in the community you hear about the issues, and you are able to identify them, but instead of just listing off possible responses or 'solutions' for lack of a better word, I find myself totally stunned. All the dimensions of community sustainability are linked to one another in incredibly complex ways, and in ways that you didn't even know existed before being involved in the community. For me, being in the community, and truly witnessing these intiricate dynamics has been a very valuable learning experience. It has also opened my eyes to the fact that in attempts to create strong and viable communities, focus becomes pinned on long term goals and future aspirations; however the process of striving towards sustainability and the reality of bringing awareness and creating movement around this topic is too of critical importance and should be acknowledged. This brings alot of questions to the surface for me as to what shape this project will take, and in what way I will emabrk upon it.
In other Intern news...I just wanted to give a quick shout out to Prairie Fun Days! Hay Lakes is stop number 8 on the fun days tour. On August 20th and 21st people can either take a day or two and make their way through, visiting all 11 stops of the fun days tour, or swing by the Hay Lakes stop which will take place at Telegraph Park. Throughout the day there will be activities going on at Telegraph park.|You can come and particpate in craft making, take a look around the park and get a feel for what the historical park was like, hunt out some geocaches, or take a look at the solar-powered scout cabin. Also there will be a lunchtime BBQ available as well as refreshments throughout the day! If you can't make prairire fun days, Telegraph park still offers some really great activities, with a stocked trout pond, hiking trails and a beautiful campsite.
Wednesday 15 June 2011
Thursday 9 June 2011
Sense and Census
"Sense and Census" I realize that this sounds like the next big musical to hit broadway, critics will rave; "Sense and Census follows a 20 something girl through the ups and downs of census collecting in Rural Alberta. Dodging unleashed, untagged dogs, escaping from prairie mosquitos, and talking with residents - there's nothing this intern won't do." Okay, Okay, my broadway dreams could be far-fetched, however I must say my job as village census collector did not come without adventure.
I decided to tackle the census by breaking the village up into a few different sections. I had to ask residents three short questions and then ask them another question regarding how to achieve the future goal of getting paved roads in the village. At the beginning of this week I will have completed three days of census collecting and I believe one more evening route could mark the end of my collection days. This has been an interesting process. It gave me the opportunity to meet some new people, have some great conversation and as mentioned above get my good scare in for the day by dodging the odd dog that takes a run and jump at my clipboard. At first I wasn't sure why me doing a village specific census was necessary, and how it even made sense. However I learned that alot of funding for the village is provided by grant money and many of these grants are provided per capita so it is of critical importance that the village is accurate and up to date on it's population count in order to receive all the funding required.
I have been sitting with a question now for a week or so, and this question is how does an intern know if the projects they are doing make sense for the purposes of not only this internship and our respective partners and bosses, but also for the municipalities we are working with. I have found myself now scanning documents, collecting census information and beginning to look at safety policies and wondered, "does this make sense to be doing this task?" As I was holding this questions I came across a post by a fellow intern and I have to say Thank you now to this intern who addressed a similar topic in a blog post by discussing the needs municipalities have for more hands and bodies to do the work in a municipality. It truly does take alot of work to make the village go round. The village Chief Administrative Officer, fellow admininstration personnel, public works employees, council members and countless volunteers work endlessly to ensure the proper and effective running of the village and by default alot of jobs get pushed to the wayside. There are certain tasks that may not always make sense for all intense purposes of this internship but the important thing is that they make sense for the communities we are working with.
I have learned a valuable lesson in my CSL experience at Augustana and this lesson is that an integral part of the learning experience occurs when there is an equal balance between giving and taking. Approaching my summer work with a sensitivity to this relationship of give and take between the community and myself ensures that the projects I am undertaking are contextually appropriate for the community I am apart of, as well as fitting into the parameters of the internship. This balance is not always easily struck, but approaching it with awareness makes it feel much more tangible.
On another note this week I had a lovely visit from fellow intern Odessa who brought her ideas and camera gear from Camrose to Hay Lakes and we got to shoot some footage of my intern experiences in Hay Lakes. Although much of this involves me working on my computer, she was able to catch me in census collecting action, and as a special treat we got one of the volunteer fire fighters to give us a look into the fire hall that serves the Hay Lakes fire district. I can guarantee Odessa will find a delightful way of making life as intern appeal to many of our senses. In fact, I may even contract her out to begin filming the first installment of "Trials and Tribulations of a Rural Capacity Intern: Census and Sense collecting."
I believe this is all for now, but with the summer now in full swing the blogs are really just beginning.
I decided to tackle the census by breaking the village up into a few different sections. I had to ask residents three short questions and then ask them another question regarding how to achieve the future goal of getting paved roads in the village. At the beginning of this week I will have completed three days of census collecting and I believe one more evening route could mark the end of my collection days. This has been an interesting process. It gave me the opportunity to meet some new people, have some great conversation and as mentioned above get my good scare in for the day by dodging the odd dog that takes a run and jump at my clipboard. At first I wasn't sure why me doing a village specific census was necessary, and how it even made sense. However I learned that alot of funding for the village is provided by grant money and many of these grants are provided per capita so it is of critical importance that the village is accurate and up to date on it's population count in order to receive all the funding required.
I have been sitting with a question now for a week or so, and this question is how does an intern know if the projects they are doing make sense for the purposes of not only this internship and our respective partners and bosses, but also for the municipalities we are working with. I have found myself now scanning documents, collecting census information and beginning to look at safety policies and wondered, "does this make sense to be doing this task?" As I was holding this questions I came across a post by a fellow intern and I have to say Thank you now to this intern who addressed a similar topic in a blog post by discussing the needs municipalities have for more hands and bodies to do the work in a municipality. It truly does take alot of work to make the village go round. The village Chief Administrative Officer, fellow admininstration personnel, public works employees, council members and countless volunteers work endlessly to ensure the proper and effective running of the village and by default alot of jobs get pushed to the wayside. There are certain tasks that may not always make sense for all intense purposes of this internship but the important thing is that they make sense for the communities we are working with.
I have learned a valuable lesson in my CSL experience at Augustana and this lesson is that an integral part of the learning experience occurs when there is an equal balance between giving and taking. Approaching my summer work with a sensitivity to this relationship of give and take between the community and myself ensures that the projects I am undertaking are contextually appropriate for the community I am apart of, as well as fitting into the parameters of the internship. This balance is not always easily struck, but approaching it with awareness makes it feel much more tangible.
On another note this week I had a lovely visit from fellow intern Odessa who brought her ideas and camera gear from Camrose to Hay Lakes and we got to shoot some footage of my intern experiences in Hay Lakes. Although much of this involves me working on my computer, she was able to catch me in census collecting action, and as a special treat we got one of the volunteer fire fighters to give us a look into the fire hall that serves the Hay Lakes fire district. I can guarantee Odessa will find a delightful way of making life as intern appeal to many of our senses. In fact, I may even contract her out to begin filming the first installment of "Trials and Tribulations of a Rural Capacity Intern: Census and Sense collecting."
I believe this is all for now, but with the summer now in full swing the blogs are really just beginning.
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