For my Pinternship, I have been working in the communications branch of the Natural Resource Conservation Service. The NRCS is an agency within the United States Department of Agriculture that provides subsidy funding to ranchers and farmers in California to help them modify their practices and make them more environmentally friendly. With the motto, “Helping people help the land,” the NRCS has a large team of Engineers, Soil Experts, and other agriculture experts to see these projects through.
The Bulk of my time here has been spent in the Davis state office, just one short bike ride away,
where I have been working to strengthen the agencies online presence and help advertise their stories, events, and programs on Instagram. They have been exploiting my young and tech savvy brain, as a user of the app, to help them increase engagement while staying within the social media restrictions of the current US administration.
To properly represent the agency on Instagram, I spent the first few days of my internship shadowing the other people in my office and one on the field. I have head the honor of getting to know Anita Brown, the head of the Communications Office in the California NRCS, who greatly inspired me while we ate at a local Thai restaurant for lunch one day. Anita is an educated women who found passion in agriculture and public service in college, and has made a name for herself while rising to the top of a predominantly male career field in both California and DC. Unfortunately, Anita will not be here next week, but her story has made me look into the passionate human aspect of the government agency, and has influenced me to show the more personal and hardworking side of the agency online.
On Wednesday, I had the pleasure of being brought into the field by one of the NRCS’s engineers, Ha. Ha showed me around the 
Colusa NRCS office and walked me through the entire process from an idea of a conservation process, to the final project conclusion. With most projects being around $50,000 dollars in total, their progress is closely monitored. As well as visiting the smaller offices with Ha, he took me to see a current drip irrigation project on a large farm outside of Yuba City. This allowed me to comprehend the real world implications of the work in the offices.
During my first week, I got the opportunity to understand how the central actions in the US government effect all branches on a state and local scale. From hiring freezes to online presence restrictions, I have witnessed the the many plights of government work, as well as the faces of the hardworking people keeping things running.
I look forward to my second and final week, which will include more field visits and insight into the facets of government that go unnoticed in the day to day lives of many.
On a more lively note, I was delighted to spend the weekend in San Francisco, visiting friends and family, and supporting local theater! It was an amazing weekend!
There are no comments published yet.