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View Erynn Allison's 2024 OSU Extension Internship Report below.


How to Lose

 

What does it mean to lose well? This is not the question I thought I would learn to answer this summer, but it's an answer I got to see my students live out gracefully.

 

When the summer began, I planned for my special project to be a scrapbooking workshop. While I did conduct this program successfully, looking back on my summer my most impactful contribution was coaching the livestock quiz bowl team. This opportunity was born out of genuine need. In the first week of my internship, my supervisor and CED, Summer, mentioned the need and thought my skills were well aligned. I immediately took on the challenge. The team had already been selected, so the next Monday, we had our first practice.


At first, I was worried that I would have nothing to offer the students. I exhibited livestock in high school and have taken several animal science classes, but I worried it was not enough. However, I decided to do what I could. At the first practice, one of the questions read “Which of the following is not a ruminant?” In reply, one of my students asked what a ruminant was. It was then that I knew I could help. Not only did I have the desire to help, but I also had the knowledge.


We jumped in the deep end together, and between June 13th and roundup on July 23rd, we had 17 practices. Before practices started, I created a quizlet with over 350 terms from the quiz bowl study guide. This resource allowed students to practice at home if they could not make it to practice.


I decided that the best strategy to begin practicing was to cover as many questions as possible. Students were asked questions directly from the study guide. When I found a gap in knowledge, we would have an in-depth conversation over the material. Some areas we covered included nutrition, reproduction, and general livestock terms. I gave each student a notebook to write down unfamiliar terms and their definitions. I believe that the added step of writing down new information helped them commit the information to memory. Another helpful tool was Kahoot. At each practice, we used this platform to host quiz games. Both speed and accuracy count, so students were extremely competitive with one another. The desire to win against their peers was a strong motivator to learn more content.


Coaching this team taught me a lot about working with students of diverse backgrounds. One of our students comes from a first-born Christian background. This means that her family does not believe in Western medicine, among other things. Because of this, I had to be careful when discussing topics such as vaccine administration in livestock and even the value of pasteurizing milk. While it was a challenge at first, I quickly learned that, through mutual respect, we would not have any issues.


Another factor of diversity on the team was that one of the members did not have an animal science background. She competed in Cloverbowl and came to me as the alternate for the livestock quiz bowl team. Through unforeseen circumstances, she became a competing member.

Through our practices, I made sure to cover all of the basics in a way that did not come off as condescending. Sometimes in our Kahoot games, the other students would joke about her falling behind, but I made sure to immediately put a stop to that behavior. It was important to me that all members were on the same page and knew they were a team first. Eventually, I noticed them sharing tidbits of information with her without my prompting.


Looking back, one thing I wish we had spent more time understanding the contest format. Two of the team members had competed previously, but I had never seen the event. We read through the rules together, but the other two students still were not completely clear on the process. If I could do it again, I would incorporate how each phase runs into practice every day.


After our last practice, I knew that the students were ready. I repeated a 50-question Kahoot that we competed in the first practice the day before round up. I was pleased to see that the percent accuracy had increased from 45% to 80%. This demonstrated a numerical growth in knowledge, but conversing with them and asking questions from the book also demonstrated knowledge gain.


When it was time to compete, we put on hype music and marched from the commons to the animal science building. I was able to affirm the team and give them one last pep talk, then it was time to compete. Watching them compete was one of my proudest moments. The questions were significantly harder than the first round, but they held their own. Each member chimed in and showed their skills. In the free-for-all round, the moderator asked, “What is it called when an egg is released into the ovary?” The student who did not have an ag background rang her buzzer, and her teammates looked at her with a slight mixture of shock and fear. “Ovulation,” she responded. The correct answer. I was so proud of her that I shed a tear, and I could see the pride her teammates felt for her. Ultimately, our team did not win. They lost to the team that got 2nd place in the tournament, but their behavior after the loss is what they should be most proud of. The contest they had worked for had come and gone without the result that they hoped for. We had a brief pep talk in the hallway about learning from the experience and coming back stronger next year. I expected them to wander off to get ready for the afternoon dance, but instead, they all decided to stay and watch the final rounds. More than that, they cheered on the other teams. These students went above and beyond every expectation I had of them and lost with grace. I am proud that they all know the compartments of the ruminant stomach, but I am more proud of the community they formed and of their behavior as young adults. Later that afternoon, the team confronted me as a group and asked for me to come back next summer to coach them. After talking with Summer, I plan to become a volunteer and do just that. As much as I have seen these students learn from me this summer, I think I learned more from them. They showed me that losing well means appreciating how far you have come, while also being excited to find out how far you can go in the future. I am thankful for all of my experiences with extension and cannot wait to see how these experiences have prepared me for my career in youth development.

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