Interns Making Key Contributions

As a 2023 summer intern with University of Idaho Extension in Ada County, McKenna Schmitt helped launch a new program to teach young children how to garden indoors.

Through her internship, Schmitt also joined staff on the Boise Farmers Mobile Market’s “veggie van,” traveling to neighborhoods with poor access to fresh produce and bringing the farmers market to them.

Every summer, UI Extension provides 400-hour, paid internships to students enrolled in Idaho public universities and colleges, such as Schmitt, who experience the real-world applications of lessons they’ve learned in class. Often, UI Extension internships represent the first step on the path toward a fulfilling career for participants.

“I’m finally taking ideas that I’ve learned in school and ideas I’ve dreamed of doing and I’m applying them in the real world,” said Schmitt, a junior at Boise State University. “I’m learning to be a community educator and informing other people rather than getting informed myself.”

Schmitt, of Seattle, who is majoring in environmental studies and minoring in global studies and American Sign Language, plans to work in food systems. Throughout the summer, Schmitt reported to Ariel Agenbroad, an area Extension educator based in Ada County specializing in food systems and small farms. Agenbroad had ordered 20 kits for raising produce indoors, which were developed by UI Extension Educator Andy West. Agenbroad tasked her summer intern with putting those kits to good use.

Schmitt partnered with an Extension intern working out of Owyhee County, Cassie Moody, and they put their own spin on UI Extension’s 4-H Junior Master Gardener curriculum to pair with lessons using the kits. The program they created, called Let’s Grow!, brings indoor gardening and classroom food safety kits to preschools, daycares and summer camps and teaches children about planting seeds, harvesting produce and encourages kids to try new vegetables.

Agenbroad has supervised 20 summer interns over the past 11 years.

“It increases our capacity significantly to do programming — to be in more places; to have more impact and outreach,” Agenbroad said. “It’s also fun for me because of the energy and the enthusiasm the interns bring, and it’s good to have that fresh perspective.”

A couple of Agenbroad’s past interns have gone on to make careers in Extension. For example, Courtney Cosdon, UI Extension soil health instructor, got to work with researchers and Treasure Valley’s small producers through an internship with Agenbroad, which set her on her career path.

“I walked into the Ada County Extension office in May of 2017 trying to learn more about what Extension was and walked out with an internship,” Cosdon said. “I think that internship was helpful in teaching me the Extension mission, which was very unclear to me at the time, and helped me realize that I would enjoy this work.”

Following her internship, Cosdon earned a master’s degree in soil and water systems. Working on her master’s thesis, she discovered she enjoyed research and teaching others about soils, compost and gardening.

Jim Sprinkle, UI Extension beef specialist, has also relied heavily on assistance from summer interns throughout the years. His interns have helped move cattle, assisted with temporary fencing, conducted rangeland monitoring, gathered data on forage consumption and completed a host of other ranch tasks.

“They’re a great resource. They assist us in research, and I think we assist them in acquiring skills that maybe they haven’t had a chance to acquire with research and so forth,” Sprinkle said.

Eight former interns associated with Sprinkle’s research were acknowledged in a paper documenting a grazing behavior study conducted at U of I’s Rinker Rock Creek Ranch, which was published in a 2021 edition of “Translational Animal Science.”

One former intern, Mallery Larson, now works as a research specialist for U of I’s Palouse Research, Extension and Education Center. During her 2018 undergraduate internship, Larson had the chance to present a poster based on her research during an annual meeting of the Western Section — American Society of Animal Science.

Larson graduated with a bachelor’s degree in animal and veterinary science: business option in May 2020. She began working on a master’s degree in animal science at U of I last fall.

“I wouldn’t have the job I have today if I hadn’t done it,” Larson said. “It opened opportunities to see what research is and what rangeland and animal science looks like.”

Larson also got to know her husband, Taythen Larson, during her internship. He managed cattle as an intern under the supervision of John Hall, cattle management lead with Rinker Rock Creek Ranch.

UI Extension increased hourly wages for interns to $17 per hour prior to this summer. Wage savings from unfilled positions account for much of the funding for internships. For the past few years, U of I has also partnered with AmeriCorps, which has helped fund interns serving 4-H youth development.

Agricultural education majors frequently accept 4-H internships, which afford participants the opportunity to plan curriculum, organize and evaluate summer day camps. Barbara Petty, UI Extension director and associate dean of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, has a committee assigned to review applications and determine which Extension educators should receive interns.

“It increases our capacity. We are able to use the student interns during our busy time in the summer, but yet we’re not paying them a full-time salary year-round,” Petty said. “And it’s just a great opportunity for the youth to put into practice what they’re learning.”

Published in Catching Up with CALS