2021 Rural Fellows—Wahoo

Allison Metschke & Mattee Kucera Author

08/13/2021 Added

60 Plays

Description

Student and Community Fellows talk about the community development projects they worked on in Wahoo, Nebraska during Summer 2021.

Searchable Transcript

Search:

[00:00:04.101]Hello, my name is Ally Metschke
[00:00:05.303]and I'm a civil engineering student at UNL.
[00:00:08.330]Through the Rural Prosperity Nebraska program,
[00:00:11.050]I was able to work in the water utilities department
[00:00:13.600]and gain hands on experience
[00:00:15.160]with the utilities we use every day.
[00:00:16.980]In the next few years, Wahoo plans to make
[00:00:19.590]major downtown improvements by replacing several water mains
[00:00:22.970]and resurfacing over 20 blocks.
[00:00:25.400]My role in the beginning stages of this project
[00:00:27.680]was to collect data for the city and JEO,
[00:00:30.640]which is a local engineering firm founded in Wahoo.
[00:00:33.680]I walked around town, locating curb stops and water valves
[00:00:36.450]using a device called a geode
[00:00:38.220]which uses satellites to pinpoint your location
[00:00:40.490]within a foot.
[00:00:41.610]Then I uploaded this data into a website called G works.
[00:00:44.910]I ended up locating roughly 115 curb stops
[00:00:47.990]and 60 water valves.
[00:00:49.810]I will use what I've learned from this experience
[00:00:51.950]in my future career because I now know the basics
[00:00:54.410]of operating and maintaining water utilities.
[00:00:57.680]As a working civil engineer,
[00:00:59.015]I can use this knowledge when designing projects
[00:01:01.480]and consulting with businesses.
[00:01:03.410]The hands-on and shadowing experience
[00:01:05.410]I had from this opportunity was far more enriching
[00:01:07.940]than merely hearing about it in a class.
[00:01:12.017]It's hard to summarize the positive impacts and benefits
[00:01:14.980]that this summer's fellows project has had
[00:01:17.430]on our community and on Wahoo utilities.
[00:01:19.900]The level of design that we are getting
[00:01:22.153]on our future water improvements downtown is much greater
[00:01:25.500]than we normally have on a project this size.
[00:01:27.730]Also, the communication with business owners
[00:01:29.800]is greater than we typically see.
[00:01:32.500]We're hoping that this level of design
[00:01:34.590]and this level of communication will help mitigate
[00:01:38.040]any miscommunications while we look to replace
[00:01:41.710]a good portion of our water main infrastructure
[00:01:44.290]downtown in the 2022 year.
[00:01:46.920]The impacts on me as an inclusive community leader
[00:01:49.610]are greater than I anticipated for this project.
[00:01:51.790]I can't say enough about the energy and perspective
[00:01:55.210]that our community fellow brought to Wahoo utilities.
[00:01:58.070]And hoping in the future that this will open our eyes
[00:02:01.034]and our minds to what we can do
[00:02:03.310]by being an inclusive community
[00:02:06.170]and an inclusive organization.
[00:02:07.750]This summer here in Wahoo,
[00:02:09.140]I was really focused on the downtown
[00:02:11.340]and specifically working with the downtown businesses
[00:02:14.950]as I needed to discuss the upcoming projects
[00:02:18.730]and construction such as revitalization efforts here
[00:02:22.050]in the coming years.
[00:02:24.100]And while meeting with these downtown businesses,
[00:02:26.760]I've learned a lot and it's helped lead to
[00:02:29.310]potentially the success of the new projects.
[00:02:32.750]The biggest point was communication
[00:02:35.020]and really expanding on that
[00:02:36.670]and having a good communication system
[00:02:39.110]so that in the future, that the projects can succeed
[00:02:42.840]and everyone knows what's going on.
[00:02:44.490]Everyone just understands it
[00:02:45.870]and really wants to devote themselves
[00:02:48.430]and learn more about it.
[00:02:50.950]I've learned a lot of valuable
[00:02:52.850]and wonderful things over this summer.
[00:02:55.050]Some of them pertain to communication skills
[00:02:58.000]and just personal skills in general.
[00:03:00.250]And I think that that is the number one thing
[00:03:02.550]I'll be taking away from this summer
[00:03:04.140]is learning new communication skills
[00:03:06.360]and how to work with different types of people
[00:03:08.570]and different personalities,
[00:03:09.830]and really just expanding those skills
[00:03:12.870]so that when I do go into the workforce
[00:03:14.930]or do start a career, I think that I will understand
[00:03:19.180]and be able to work with many different people.
[00:03:23.070]Hi, my name is Kathryn Nygren
[00:03:24.700]and I am a community fellow for Wahoo.
[00:03:27.380]My real job is working at Found And Flora flower shop,
[00:03:29.680]which is also located in downtown Wahoo.
[00:03:32.380]So the city of Wahoo is working on
[00:03:33.840]a major infrastructure overhaul in the next couple of years
[00:03:36.410]so our intern projects this summer
[00:03:37.810]were geared towards preparing for that.
[00:03:41.620]So one of the biggest impacts I see is the start of a
[00:03:45.700]communication vehicle to get all the local businesses
[00:03:49.460]and property owners on board,
[00:03:51.110]as far as what the plans are for the street overhaul
[00:03:56.120]and as well as being a vehicle for communication
[00:03:59.910]as the progress and the project goes.
[00:04:03.150]As a business owner perspective,
[00:04:04.740]it's gonna be so beneficial to know like,
[00:04:06.770]what the timeline of the project is
[00:04:08.100]so we can plan any in-house projects,
[00:04:10.720]any in-house improvements,
[00:04:11.990]or even like vacation on a week our street might be closed.
[00:04:16.500]I will take these experiences this summer and use them
[00:04:20.380]and apply them towards other leadership roles
[00:04:23.040]that I currently hold in the community.
[00:04:27.448](wind blowing) (crickets chirping)

The screen size you are trying to search captions on is too small!

You can always jump over to MediaHub and check it out there.

Comments

0 Comments

2021 Rural Fellows—Wahoo

Description

Searchable Transcript

Comments icon comment

Related Channels

Comments