Jordan: Summer 2023 will mark
the Rural Fellowship Program's 10th anniversary.
A seven week program
housed in the University of Nebraska Lincoln's
Institute of Ag and Natural Resources
places college students in Nebraska towns
to help create and execute community improvement projects.
For both students and communities,
the application window opened October 1st.
Community applications are due December 30th.
Applications can be found at ruralprosperityNE.unl.edu.
"The Rural Fellowship Program
is different from traditional internships,"
said Helen Fagan, program coordinator.
"In an internship, students generally work for a company
to gain career experience.
With the fellowship,
students live in and work for a community,
bringing their own talents and education
to help improve that community."
During the application process, community leaders outline
projects they'd like to work on the following summer.
Fagan and her team then interview student applicants
and place them in towns where
their education and experiences can be used
to help complete those projects.
In the past, students have designed hike and bike trails,
organized small business Saturday events,
hosted youth entrepreneurship seminars,
and created public health initiatives.
"We didn't have the ability
from a team member and time perspective
to devote to this," said Kyle Kellum,
CEO of Cherry County Hospital in Valentine,
where a major project for 2022 fellows
was researching the need for and possibility of
creating community-funded daycare.
"This was something that we had to tackle as an organization
and having the Rural Fellowship Program here
has been a tremendous asset for our organization."
While having students living and working in the towns
is a boon to rural Nebraska communities,
the students also benefit from the experience,
and not just through their paycheck.
"The communities bring in some of the brightest,
most vibrant, and most ambitious young minds
to their communities,
ready to be proactive in developing plans
to create resources and solve challenges," said Darryl King,
experiential learning and community engagement coordinator
for the program.
As for the participants, they get a chance to
apply their knowledge to real world issues
and work with community leaders,
while still learning the other courses.
Working with these community leaders
provides mentoring opportunities, leadership skills,
and experiential learning.
Faith Zhang, an environmental science major from Caroll
who served in Chadron this summer,
said, "Serving as a rural fellow
in Dawes, Sheridan, and Sioux Counties for the summer
proved to be one of the greatest experiences
of my college career so far."
Rural communities may be small, but they are mighty.
They hold our state together
and the driving force behind the good life
that can only be experienced in Nebraska.
To learn more about the Rural Fellowship Program
or to complete your community application,
go to ruralprosperityNE.unl.edu.
For Nebraska Extension, this is Jordan Rasmussen.