Life Through the Eyes of an Intern

Hello, My name is Lauren Ibach and this year I will be serving the Nebraska Corn Board as their Communications and Outreach Intern. I am from Sumner, Nebraska and I am a junior studying Agriculture Education at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. My family farm consists of a 450 head cow/calf operation, 35 head flock of sheep, and about  1,300 acres of irrigated crop land which is usually planted to corn or soybeans, this year though we have had to plant some fields to grass to help make up for the lack of pasture due to last year’s drought.  Some other activities I am involved in on campus are Alpha Chi Omega Sorority, Nebraska Agricultural Youth Council, Nebraska Human Resource Institute, and Alpha Zeta honors fraternity. Needless to say this upcoming school year is going to be very busy for me.

I started my internship with the Nebraska Corn Board on Monday May 13^th here at on the 4^th floor of the State Office Building. Before this summer I had spent all of my summer breaks working on my family’s farm and assisting my dad with jobs which usually meant I was doing chores and cleaning barns, so as you can imagine living in the big city instead of the country is going to take some getting used to. So far my biggest adjustment has been remembering to lock my car every time I get out of it and not forgetting the keys inside! I must admit this city living has some advantages though, for example I can get from place to place in 10 minutes now instead of having to plan an afternoon to go to town to shop or get groceries. Despite these advantages though I would still prefer to be a little further out of the city limits than I will be this summer but I guess my city house will have to do for a while.

Some activities I have been exposed to while at the office include reading blogs from various websites to help keep me informed about current agriculture happenings, video editing, washing the corn van, and answering the phone. I know answering the phone seems like one of my simpler tasks but I am yet to master the art of transferring calls. Hopefully I will get over my nerves soon. With the exception of my personal endeavors with the office phone I am fully enjoying my “office job” and am looking forward to the rest of my year working with the staff here at the Nebraska Corn Board and the corn producers of Nebraska.