OSU Extension, Darke County Hosts Two Interns for the Summer

Rose Vagedes is a graduate of Coldwater High School located in Mercer County. She just completed her first year at the Ohio State University studying Agronomy and minoring in Farm Production and Management. With this degree, she intends to find a job locally as an agronomist. Rose actively participates in Agricultural Education Society, Crops and Soils Club, OSU Intramural Women’s Ultimate Frisbee Team, and Weeds Team. This past winter break, Rose had the opportunity to travel abroad to Nicaragua to study the country's agriculture. The primary focus of the trip was on the country’s coffee industry. Rose’s favorite part of the trip was standing at the mouth of a volcano and swimming in an extinct volcano.

This summer Rose is working as an ACRE intern through the OSU Agricultural and Natural Resource Extension Offices of Mercer, Auglaize, Darke, Miami, and Champaign counties. Through this internship, much of her time is occupied with assisting her hosting educators by collecting data from various research projects. These projects consist of Seeding Rate trials for corn and soybeans, Cold Front trials of corn and soybeans, Starter Fertilizer trials, a trial on Waterhemp, Pollinator Investigation, Spotted Wing Drosophila traps, Brown Marmorated Stink Bug traps, and Western Bean Cutworm traps. She scouts corn, wheat, soybeans, and hops fields, as well as, conduct protocols provided to her by the OSU state specialists. Her time has also been filled with radio interviews, field days, meetings, and presentations. Ms. Vagedes said “The variety of work done, skills gained, and connections created is the most rewarding part about this internship, which makes her look forward to whatever else this internship has to offer!”

Logan Heiby is a fourth year Agriscience Education major from The Ohio State University. He hails from Coldwater, Ohio where he grew up on his family’s farm. When Logan graduates in May of 2018 he plans to find a career where he can teach others about agriculture. At The Ohio State University, he participates in the Agricultural Education Society and Towers Agricultural Honorary. During May of 2017 Logan attended a study abroad, where he traveled to Honduras for 17 days. During his trip he worked on community development in Choluteca, Honduras. Some of the community development projects included wiring a school building, pouring concrete sidewalks, teaching students about plant development, and providing lunches for several different schools. Logan’s favorite part of the trip was learning about the culture while educating the people of Honduras to help better their lives.

Logan said, “he is excited to be an intern for the Darke County Extension for the summer.” During his time at OSU Extension, Darke County he will be given the opportunity to learn about all areas of Darke County Extension such as: Agriculture and Natural Resource, 4-H and youth development, Family and Consumer Sciences, and SNAP. He will help with the agricultural research that includes; seeding rate trials, starter fertilizer trials, side dress manure work, and Western Bean Cutworm traps observations.

He will also attend many events through Darke County 4-H that include: 4-H Camp, Jr. and Sr. Fairboard Meetings, Carteens, and several 4-H contests. Logan will also work with the Family and Consumer Science program. He will be attending several events such as Health Fairs, We Are the Majority Camp Health Snack, and Food Preservation Workshops. He will also work with SNAP-Ed and learn more about the Head Start program.