CORVALLIS, Ore. — Since launching in 2020, the Oregon State University Extension Service Internship Program has helped open career pathways for students who now work across Extension.
The program was designed to spark interest in Extension careers, and the results are tangible: Four former interns went on to land jobs with OSU Extension, and three are current employees.
The Extension internship provides hands-on experience as interns assist with county fairs, support and create youth and adult programs, and help conduct agricultural research.
Interns benefit from close mentoring by Extension faculty and staff, as well as from what they learn while working alongside the communities they serve.
Summer interns range from recent high school graduates to graduate students and work in all of Extension’s major program areas. Interns come from many academic disciplines and from campuses across the Pacific Northwest and beyond.
Seeing Extension from the inside
Maggie Justice, now a 4-H/SNAP-Ed program coordinator in Gilliam County, interned in Grant County in 2020. Her internship focused on 4-H and gave her a behind-the-scenes look at fair and event planning.
“I had not realized the work that staff went through in putting on those events,” Justice said. “My experience as an intern allowed me to see and appreciate the benefits of 4-H as an adult. I truly saw and appreciated the impact that it had on young people.”
Justice said the internship strengthened her workplace skills, from independent work to teamwork, and helped shape her career path.
“My experience helped me to find a career that I was interested in,” she said. “I am very thankful for the opportunities it gave me.”
Exploring career paths in agriculture
Crystal Kelso interned with the Small Farms Program in Linn, Lane and Benton counties in the summer of 2022. Today, Kelso is an educational program assistant for the Small Farms and Forestry and Natural Resources programs in Linn and Benton counties.
“My internship gave me in-the-field experience to work directly with a variety of farmers and organizations,” Kelso said. “It also gave me the space to explore avenues in farming that I'm passionate about, and look forward to growing more in.”
Kelso said the internship strengthened her skills in public speaking, event organization, communication and public education.
“An internship is a foot in the door to a variety of experiences and connections that I think would have been difficult to make on my own,” she said.
Customizing the experience
Kelci Free interned in 2021 and 2022 with the Extension groundwater protection and education program in the mid-Willamette Valley. She is now an educational program assistant in Lincoln County.
“There are so many different programs and projects that you will be exposed to and be able to learn about or get involved in,” Free said.
The internship can be tailored to an intern’s academic interests and career goals based on program needs. Free, who earned a bachelor’s degree in agricultural sciences from OSU in 2022, said the experience helped her understand the diversity of Extension’s work.
“There is something you can learn from everyone in this internship no matter what your major is,” she said. “The internship allowed me to see that the needs are different for each county we worked in and how to work with those communities and be able to change what isn’t working on the fly.”
How to apply
Interns share their experiences through blog posts during their internships.
The Extension internship application period typically opens by mid-February each year, with deadlines in March or April.
Previously titled For these three, internship program sparked interest in full-time OSU Extension career
