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.

Rural Capacity Internship- A Day in the Life (From the Creative Vision of Odessa - Fellow Intern)

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.

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...