Denver Greens Internship Reflection

April 29, 2016

Within my Discipline
My internship did require some prior knowledge especially from my Computer classes. I had to
make posters and flyers that required graphic skills and also image coordination. The fact that I had to
limit the amount of words that go onto the flyer and poster, it was really good having technical writing
skills because it made my job much easier. I had to develop the pasture to packer results book and I to
use my technical writing skills to edit and change sentence structures. It was a bit more detailed than
expected, but I managed to complete the book on time. If I did not have the experience from my
Technical Writing and my College English classes, I probably would have taken more time and perhaps
had more pages. I have been teaching Agronomy classes for a few years and I also had to use my
background knowledge when speaking to a farmer who wanted to develop his land into pastures. The
extension agent had cover most of the areas the farmer wanted to learn about, but I did asked some
relevant questions that made a difference in the farmers decision. Questions were asked such as where
he is planning on setting up his water source, if he had any plans on using solar or wind energy, and how
does he plans to solve his erosion problem. I told him about the gabion baskets for his erosion problem
and made suggestions on reducing expenditure by using renewable energy. Meetings are very important
and when participating it requires some knowledge of what the agenda items are about. I was able to
follow in meetings that were centered on animals, pastures, and plants, and as a result I was very
grateful for my Animal Science and Horticulture classes, especially when the members went on topics
such as yield grade, carcass merit, and primal cuts. At times they went above my knowledge and I did
not want to ask questions that would made me seems too ignorant. However, I tried to ask questions
that would gave me the answers to my questions I did not ask. For example, I was at a horse committee
meeting and they were discussing how the animals help to heal people who has posttraumatic stress

disorder. I asked how and what do they do to get the horses to help such people. Ms. Laura explained
how she does it at her organization and I got the concept of how horse therapy works.
Beyond my Discipline
The real challenge came went I got the photography contest because it required a little more
than I knew about photographs and the software applications needed to edit them for public viewing
and grading. I did not have any photography classes or experiences to assist me with this task, so I had
to learn about this content area. I had to read the criteria that governs the competition and followed the
guide lines to ensure that I did a good job. I had to make connections with people to ask them to
volunteer and dedicate their time to help me with the photography contest grading. I had to use my
garnered skills from my Agriculture Extension and Industry Methods class. However, I realized that
talking to the volunteers were easy, but getting them to commit to the task was hard. I think that they
had underestimate the time required to grade the photographs and perhaps got overwhelmed so they
backed out at last minute. I now understand that if I am seeking volunteers for whatever reasons, I
should seek more than what is needed to prevent the problem I had. I had to manipulate a grade sheet
to fit the needs of this competition and the sheets were in excel format. I also had to learn how to do
mail merging to save time and sustain accuracy. Having the basic knowledge of Microsoft excel and
Word from my Computer classes made this task a bit friendly, but it was beyond my skills. The pasture
to packer book was another challenge, but I found it very interesting. I got to use the InDesigned
software to edit and organize the book. I really appreciate this task because now have another software
program to add on what I already have. I also volunteered to assist the Food and Consumer Science
Agent with her K3 program and I had to use my knowledge gained from my Child Development class. To
develop the gaming activity I had to pay attention to the age group that was going to do the activity,
their attention span, and their knowledge complexity. Without taking these thing into consideration the
children would have seen the activity as boring and they would probably not gain anything from it. The

person who was going to facilitate the activity would have had to improvise and tweak it to meet the
age group of the children if it was not suitable. It would also cause frustration and perhaps would have
been abandoned for something else. Therefore, it was necessary to focus and planned it for the
children.
Beyond my Academics
I had the opportunity to meet many people who showed an interest in me because of my
nationality. They were very concerned about the type of agriculture I practiced back home and how my
training here will benefit those in Jamaica. Having the experience of being a teacher and understanding
people made it easy for me to have a detailed conversation within the context of their stereotypical
ideology. I used diplomacy to educate each person I came in contact with because some encounters
were misinformed about my culture so they asked strange questions. I believe that self-control is key
when working in the real world because people will say things that may be offensive, but not acting out
will strengthen my personal development. However, in class we may have the open floor to be
confrontational but in the real world it creates tension, retards progress and animosity synthesis. Having
interpersonal skills is very important in the real world of work.
The concept of going to class to learn from a professor with a lesson plan versus going to work to learn
without a plan is a problem. This is a valuable lesson to take away from working in the real world. The
idea of going to work hoping that a task will be assigned is the wrong concept to have of the working
world. The underlining principle here is to ensure that I always have a plan for the day. Having the plan
will allow me to make use of my days on the job. It was better to have a plan and could not use it
because my supervisor had assigned me some tasks than not having a plan and not sure of what to get
done for the day. I can confirm that preparation and planning are key elements of the working class, but

also initiative and organization. It is evident that school does prepare us mentally for the working class,
but the real training begins on the job.
Interconnectedness
Agriculture is a very diverse discipline and to be an effective agriculturalist it is important to
practice the skills learned while studying or working. Agriculturalists are smart people even though
society proclaims that we are animal abusers and polluters of the environment. As I continue on this
path, I know that we will modernize agriculture for the anti-agriculture people to see. This is why I had
properly prepared myself in developing international standard requirement skills in animal science, crop
production practices, technical writing, and environmental awareness. With the training received it was
easier to talk to children from 4-H to classmates about various topics in agriculture and by extension to
farmers and experts of the discipline. The experience was commendable for its purpose and I would
participate again if I had to.
Global Awareness
I remember listening to a speaker who said that, America has the safest food in the world and
I think that his statement was not entirely true. There is not enough statistics to make such a claim and
he did not used any criteria to justify his statement. This was a bias statement because there are other
nations that use the USDA standard criteria to grow their produce and to rear animals while there are
others that have their own working system. There are nations that do a much better job in some areas
of food production and quality than America. However, I am not arguing that America does not produce
safe food because it does, I am only lamenting on the speakers bold statement because it discredit
other agriculturalist across the globe. For instance, in my country we use some of the USDA standards,
but we tweak it to fit our environment given that we are surrounded by water. There are certain
chemicals that we prohibit its use in agriculture because of its potency. All farmers are trained and

licensed to apply chemicals and fertilizers. They understand the withdrawal periods and practice safety
for food consumption. Therefore, knowing this background knowledge made me discredit his claim.
I am always stereotyped because I fall into the minority group. However, when I speak to
individuals their perception of me changes somewhat and I could see a different reaction. On many
occasions they were shocked when I told them what I do and how I do it. Nonetheless, we always end
up talking more about my future as an agriculturalist and the question of, if I am planning to stay after
graduation. My disappointing answer made them ask if I do not like it here, but after explaining they got
the understanding of why I have to go back to my country.
My perception of Texas agriculture was fixated on beef and dairy cattle, but now I have a
different opinion. It is more detailed and I realized that they study everything that can be associated
with the discipline. The meat science aspect of agriculture, using parameters to determine yield grade
and carcass merits, were all new to me. The fact that they consistently select and develop breeds of
animals for better meat quality and feed conversion ratios. I guess my perception has been upgraded.

Broader Implications
The concept of agriculture has been changing over the years and most of the rural people are
leaving the fields for suburbs. They are also selling their lands to housing contractors and investors
because the government, regulatory boards and environmental protection agencies are applying
pressure on them. This is not good for the industry and in the near future there will be more farmers
migrating to other places if they cannot stay afloat with their businesses. It is also evident that there is a
need for more political agriculturalist who are will to make our voices be heard. This does not only affect
America it is a global concern and even though the farmer understand the implications they still try to
feed nations. That is the true creed of the farmer and the heads of government should be reminded. I
am preparing myself for the opportunity that I cannot foresee but know that it will come. Therefore, my
training as already provided the platform for me to excel in other areas and I will when the time comes.

Another important aspect is the youths; we have to get them more involved in agriculture because
without them we will be in trouble in the future. I will continue to do my part in educating and spreading
the word of agriculture and its importance.