2022 Rural Fellows—Alliance

Landyn Bish, Elizabeth Pernicek, Eric Pulver Author

08/08/2022 Added

12 Plays

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Student and Community Fellows talk about the community development projects they worked on in Alliance, Nebraska during Summer 2022.

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[00:00:00.000](cheerful music)
[00:00:05.285](cheerful music elevates)
[00:00:13.990]Hi, I'm Elizabeth Pernicek from Brainard, Nebraska.
[00:00:16.680]And I'm Landyn Bish from Lincoln, Nebraska.
[00:00:19.200]And we're both third-year architecture students at UNL.
[00:00:22.230]We are part of the Rural Fellowship Program,
[00:00:24.150]and we have been out in Alliance, Nebraska,
[00:00:26.070]for the last 10 weeks.
[00:00:27.630]We began our summer experience
[00:00:29.190]by partnering with the Alliance Recreation Center
[00:00:31.500]as they are looking to expand their facilities.
[00:00:34.170]Hi, my name's Eric Pulver.
[00:00:36.030]I'm from Omaha.
[00:00:37.170]I am a master's of public health and emergency preparedness
[00:00:39.960]student at UNMC.
[00:00:41.820]And I'm out here in Alliance to do some projects
[00:00:44.970]for the ARC and the Sandhills Center.
[00:00:48.300]Hi, I'm Chelsie Herian, executive director
[00:00:50.850]of Box Butte Development Corporation.
[00:00:52.980]Welcome to Alliance.
[00:00:55.107](cheerful music continues)
[00:00:59.479](heartfelt music)
[00:01:13.057]We began our summer by creating floor plans
[00:01:15.210]of the Alliance Recreation Center, which is very important
[00:01:17.880]because they did not previously have any plans
[00:01:19.860]of the existing building.
[00:01:21.540]This will be vital to their expansion efforts
[00:01:24.120]as they are able to see what they have
[00:01:25.770]and what they are able to do with their current building
[00:01:28.230]and its current state.
[00:01:30.000]Another thing we've been doing in Alliance
[00:01:31.740]is mapping out recreation.
[00:01:33.510]So this is important for seeing how it's used,
[00:01:35.880]when it's used, and then how to enhance it later.
[00:01:39.270]First project that I did for the ARC
[00:01:42.120]was the preparedness activity
[00:01:45.120]where I have a focus on family pet preparedness.
[00:01:49.050]As this is being done for a summer camp
[00:01:51.270]with kindergarten through fifth graders,
[00:01:53.490]I wanted it to be engaging for them.
[00:01:56.220]The other project, the large project I did,
[00:01:58.560]was called a business continuity plan.
[00:02:01.350]And with that, that's an emergency preparedness plan
[00:02:04.110]that will help to mitigate any issues that come up
[00:02:08.100]from a disaster that would cause disruptions
[00:02:11.040]to their operations or their financial situation.
[00:02:14.670]And some side projects that I did.
[00:02:16.650]I did a active shooter discussion with Mara and Reve
[00:02:20.940]at the Alliance Recreation Center.
[00:02:23.340]We came out here shortly after the events
[00:02:25.380]of Uvalde and Buffalo.
[00:02:27.240]And so they were very concerned about that kind of stuff
[00:02:30.300]when it came to man-made violence
[00:02:33.150]and their summer camp and after-school programs.
[00:02:36.870]Another project that I did was I did a risk assessment
[00:02:39.690]and emergency kit discussion with Nina and Alex
[00:02:43.710]at the Sandhills Center for Hope.
[00:02:46.080]And with that,
[00:02:46.913]they were able to learn what are some of the things
[00:02:49.380]that might come up as they go through this process
[00:02:52.770]of creating a new facility
[00:02:54.750]for the Sandhills Center for Hope.
[00:02:57.540]As the community host,
[00:02:59.460]I was able to help all three of our Rural Fellow interns
[00:03:03.600]make connections in the community.
[00:03:05.610]So when they're working on their future projects,
[00:03:08.550]they know who to go to at, say, the City of Alliance,
[00:03:12.270]any of the municipalities, certain department heads.
[00:03:15.720]Make connections and build relationships
[00:03:17.820]with your community leadership,
[00:03:19.470]whether it's at the municipal government, county government,
[00:03:22.590]village, with your city council, your county commissioners,
[00:03:26.790]other important leaders in the community,
[00:03:28.980]like the Chamber of Commerce,
[00:03:31.020]our educational institutions like the superintendent.
[00:03:36.570]Specifically for this project, where they were doing so much
[00:03:39.360]for the Alliance Recreation Center,
[00:03:41.850]meeting the executive director,
[00:03:43.800]interacting with other employees at that facility,
[00:03:47.790]asking important questions,
[00:03:50.100]but then also spending time in the community,
[00:03:52.770]getting to experience what a rural community is like,
[00:03:56.850]to live in, recreation, all of our quality of life.
[00:04:01.590]Here we are at Central Park in Alliance.
[00:04:05.580]It has just been an excellent opportunity I hope for them.
[00:04:09.210]And we're super grateful to get some outside perspective,
[00:04:12.450]young perspective, on our community
[00:04:14.400]and how we can make it better.
[00:04:15.968](cheerful music)
[00:04:23.730]And as I've done all these projects out here in Alliance,
[00:04:27.180]there's a lot of things that I personally have been able
[00:04:30.360]to learn and grow from.
[00:04:32.250]One of the most important
[00:04:33.780]would just be public health is a massive coalition
[00:04:38.910]of just all sorts of groups that need to work together,
[00:04:42.180]and out here that kind of is just how it happens.
[00:04:45.270]Everyone wears multiple hats.
[00:04:47.040]Everyone has to do multiple things.
[00:04:48.990]And so you have to build those coalitions
[00:04:51.330]to get all sorts of things done.
[00:04:53.430]And I know that will be incredibly helpful
[00:04:55.080]for me in the future
[00:04:56.610]as I continue on doing emergency preparedness items
[00:04:59.850]in public health.
[00:05:02.190]Outside of working with the Alliance Recreation Center
[00:05:04.560]and inventorying the recreation in town,
[00:05:06.720]we've also had the time to enjoy ourselves.
[00:05:09.030]We've been enjoying the Alliance scenery,
[00:05:10.920]traveling to local and nearby landmarks,
[00:05:13.470]and hosting a bake sale fundraiser.
[00:05:16.770]Through the bake sale, we were able to raise $233
[00:05:20.010]for the Sandhills Center for Hope.
[00:05:24.480]Though we were only part of the Alliance community
[00:05:26.490]for a summer, we will carry this experience with us
[00:05:28.830]for the rest of our lives.
[00:05:30.420]Not only did we gain experience related to our majors,
[00:05:33.600]we gained experience in how to handle life.
[00:05:35.940]Being surrounded by so many strong and passionate leaders
[00:05:38.460]showed me that it truly takes a village to make waves.
[00:05:41.340]It takes a lot of communication, compromise, understanding,
[00:05:44.370]and respect to make change happen.
[00:05:46.590]I definitely grew not only as a team leader,
[00:05:48.780]but also as a team member,
[00:05:50.340]because I was involved in this process.
[00:05:52.560]I will carry the communication and adaptability skills
[00:05:55.140]I gained in Alliance with me through the rest of my life.
[00:05:59.310]As our time at Alliance draws to a close,
[00:06:01.560]I look back at all the memories we've made
[00:06:03.300]and the amazing people we've met.
[00:06:05.190]We couldn't have asked for a better host team
[00:06:06.810]and support network.
[00:06:08.100]So from the bottom of our hearts, thank you, Alliance.

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2022 Rural Fellows—Alliance

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