A Rural Week in Review

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