My Leadership Philosophy Statement: 

“Where would you be without agriculture?” Farmers often respond, “Naked and hungry”, to this thought-provoking question. There are 7.8 billion people that live in this world today who must utilize agriculture to survive. In our society, many of these people do not realize the impact that agriculture has on their lives and environment. It is imperative that individuals involved in the agricultural industry improve peoples’ understanding of what agricultural science is and the purpose of it. Because of the growth of the human population in the world, more and more farmers and ranchers are needed daily to feed America and the world. People also need to be made aware of the role they play in agriculture. So, this means that people like me who are passionate about our future impact in the industry, we must decide which ways we intend to make a difference.  

Personally, I believe in the value of hard work, which often-times the labor that is hidden under the product or end-goal that is produced. Thus, for the majority of the beginning of my career, I hope to surround myself with those individuals who take a physical toll on their bodies every day in order to plant and harvest the crops and animals that will eventually be bought and sold into the industrial food system. By doing so, I will gain a new perspective regarding those hard working individuals, will be able to consider myself the same as those individuals, and then can eventually use my college experiences in agricultural leaders, community development, and social change to make my way up to the broader corporate life of agriculture. Furthermore, I plan on engaging my career vision, goals, and incentives in any agriculture-based field where help is needed most, where my skills could have the largest impact they could possibly have, and to encourage others to pay more attention to where their food comes from so that they can appreciate those in the agriculture industry who worked to provide it. In order to make the largest impact I can over the next decade or so period of my life, I know that I must communicate openly to groups in agriculture, as well as those who might not be, in order to bring to the forefront any problems that both local communities or national concerns that are currently having a negative impact for farmers and agricultural practitioners alike. By joining co-ops, attending agriculture-related public discussions and discourses, and making sure to voice my passion for the betterment of the lives of farmers, as well as my community around me, I will be able to say that I am actually utilizing the strengths I have in a way that will make my future self proud. 

file:///C:/Users/gmeck/Downloads/LDRS%20Resume.pdf

Grayson Meck, Senior, Virginia Tech, Agricultural Sciences Major, Minor in Leadership and Social Change

Hello, and welcome to my blog. I am very excited to have you here, and to follow my journey on this final semester of my college career in the Agricultural Sciences major, as well as the purpose of this blog concerning my minor in Leadership and Social Change. Throughout the semester I will posting updates in the form of assignments which will keep you up to date on my own personal leadership philosophy and other things I learn along the way.

My name is Grayson Meck, and I am from Richmond, Virginia. However, I have moved further out to the Henrico area since my sophomore year of college. I am a transfer student to Virginia Tech, as I began my college career at University of South Carolina business school, but quickly found that I was not interested in business, and made the decision to switch to agriculture here at VT. Although I arrived here and decided to focus on my academics rather than join a club or fraternity, I found that the transition was simple and easy, and I now feel as though I am where I should have been from the beginning. I grew up outside, doing yard work for my dad and neighbors, going hunting with my Dad every weekend, fishing at my grandfathers lake, and enjoying cook outs with my immediate family. I believe it was these moments that inspired me to never work in a cubicle for the rest of my life, and essentially turned me from a business man to a farming entrepreneur. Eventually, I hope to start a small farm with a produce stand, which will hopefully become a farm to table operation with a restaurant–and even a brewery one day if so be it. I am a passionate advocate for farmers across the nation and world, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

What is leadership? When I was first asked this question, I was unsure of how to answer. Upon logic and a few months of thinking it through, the following is what I came up with: I believe every human being that walks this Earth has ample opportunities to place themselves in a position in which leadership is required for progress or change. So, leadership is not some term to describe only one type of person, but rather to describe the actions or benefits that any individual brings to any group in an effort to reach a common goal. Thus, often times not recognized by most people, leadership skills can be learned and practiced! Once I reached the point where I engrained this idea into my mind, I began to assess and compare my typical strategies and plans of action when I was placed into a leadership position in the past. In doing so, I have found that I am very goal-oriented, with urgency as a natural feeling I have adopted from my parents, mentors, etc. However, one thing that a leader with this style of leadership must remember is that both not every other member of the team might be action/goal oriented, and that people work better when they feel welcomed, accepted, and part of something greater than themselves. So, even though I will let those around me know that I wish to be diligent and productive, I have utilized the talent of maintaining positivity in those around me with my personable personality to unite the idea of achieving a goal efficiently and the need to excite my team to do so together as one. To me, these two skills—working in a direct, goal-oriented way and maintaining a personable, positive environment—have been the sort of leadership backbone that I pride myself on in my accomplishments while working with others. I have found that once the teams I have been a part of disband, they usually leave with a sense of being something greater than themselves, but also with a high sense of individual pride for their own accomplishments for the benefit of the rest of the team. To me, a proper leader should hope that those who he wishes to influence or guide towards some end goal must leave with both of those two inner feelings: newfound personal relationships as a team as well as a newfound sense of pride for the contributions that their own efforts had in the efforts of the group to reach a goal.

By: Grayson Meck

Summary of my final week!

As I am writing this final reflection, it’s starting to settle in how quickly the past 10 weeks have flown by! I have had such a great learning experience since that first week, met a group of co-workers that are amazing, and gotten to see the ins and outs about the way an extension office is run on a day to day basis. It’s crazy to me that almost 5 weeks ago I was at a bed bug convention and then this week I was teaching children about the history of money! But it all just goes to show that the life of an extension agent is scattered, participating in programs that are of varying topics each and every week. So, in our final week we had 9 campers participate in our Money Day Camp. On Monday we covered the basics about money such as its origins, the people on each coin or bill, and the materials that they are made out of. The next day we discussed banks, credit/debit cards, and loans. Wednesday was more of a game-oriented day where we played money bingo and slap the card on the wall to learn more vocabulary regarding money. And finally on Friday we created a savings plan and decorated piggy banks among other activities. Overall I think it went fairly well, but after Kim and I reflected about it in general, we both agreed that it was ultimately too long of a time frame to discuss the topic of money. Instead, we figured it could work better if that week was split into money for two days and the next two days were a different topic. That way the campers don’t get bored and begin to cause a ruckus. In summation, I’d like to say that this was an experience that I will not take for granted in my future, and I will also say that the possibility of me becoming an agent in the future is still a real possibility. To all of the employees at the Henrico County Extension Office, I would like to say thank you and I hope you each have a great rest of your Summer!

By: Grayson Meck

This weeks summary:

Well, here we are finishing up my second to last week here at the Henrico County Extension Office, and I am happy to say that I’ve enjoyed it very much! This week was the last camp I’ll be planning to lead and working with Mr. Ed, but we still have our Money Day Camp with Miss Kim next week, as well. Over the last four days we’ve covered topics like soil, pollutants, water, and my day-wilderness. Activities were designed to teach each camper about the importance of maintaining a clean, healthy environment in which we can grow our food and go about our daily lives. On my day, we had several activities that involved a competition or some sort of game because I had noted from my previous day that the campers did not and could not sit still for more than about an hour. First, we played animal charades in which each camper came up to the front and had to ask the class questions in order to reach a conclusion about which animal I was holding up behind them. Then we played a game of musical chairs where I read a story about a degrading ecosystem that was quickly losing the components of its habitat, and if they sad down on the chair that was next, they were out. Our outdoor activity was called Birds and Worms, and I placed small, rainbow colored worms in the grass about 25 feet away from the campers. The object of the game was have a relay race in which the campers could see the important effect that camouflage has on wildlife since the yellow worms were harder to find than the green ones. Following a quick food web demonstration with a ball of yarn, we had our snack-trail mix to represent bird food followed by a nest making session made out of a rice crispy treat. Our next few activities included Beak Tools-which demonstrated the need for certain birds to have distinctly shaped beaks depending on what they eat and building a homemade bird feeder out of paper plates and paper plat holders, string, and cheerios. Unlike my day from the Horticulture Day Camp, I actually did finish up a little too early, and Ed had to hop in with a quick Food Web Booklet activity. In the end I was satisfied since the kids said they had a fun time, nobody got hurt, and everybody learned something new. Next week is Money Day Camp with Miss Kim so I will sum up my entire internship in my next post!

By: Grayson Meck

Synopsis of the past few weeks:

Continuing on with our 5 week Summer Day Camp programs, the three day week prior to the Fourth of July time off and the week of July 8-11 have mostly been concerned with discussing how we wanted to organize and run our Creative Crafts Day Camp. Much like the week prior to our Horticulture Day Camp the first week and our Foods Day Camp the second week, I spent the three days prior to the Fourth of July meeting with Kendra Young (4-H agent) to brainstorm several activities she has done in the past, as well as think of some ideas for new activities that the campers would enjoy. In the end we decided on 15 total crafts, beginning on Monday with our July 4th themed Flag hanger made from string and beads. The second activity we did was called fuse beads, which the campers placed on templates and we fused them together with a clothes iron. We finished the day off with a snack, our sand art activity, and finally campers painted their snapple vases (pictured above). On Tuesday, our activities included Trivets, tie-die bandannas, as well as painting bowls and fans. Day three activities included Leather Craft with Sarah Gregory (former 4-H volunteer who has devoted much of her life to youth development), painting wooden snakes, and making necklaces out of macrame knots. And finally, we concluded our Creative Crafts camp with decoupage journals, a decoupage switch plate, and our snack that day was a food craft we called edible sushi. As I had learned from our Day Camps prior to the Creative Crafts Camp, there can be moments of on-the-fly thinking where something might go differently than expected where we have to make a decision in the moment on how to best handle it. But Miss Kendra’s activities were organized in a way that lined up perfectly with the time she allotted during her program planning, so each day went exactly how it was supposed to. As I plan for next weeks Wilderness day (When I will lead), I am going to do a better job of creating realistic timetables for each scheduled activity in order to maintain a concrete schedule. Aside from program planning the week prior to fourth of July and running our Creative Crafts camp, I also had the opportunity to head out to Hanover with Ed to a well-water testing PowerPoint presentation performed by Hanover Agr agent Laura Maxey-Nay and her intern Savannah. It was a very informative presentation that was actually very beneficial for me because my father has actually been talking about testing the well at our river house now for the past few weeks, and I was able to relay the information I learned from Laura’s talk over to him for future plans. Next week, Ed and I will run our Environment and Natural Resources Day Camp with topics including soils, water, and wildlife, and I am about finished planning for the Wildlife-themed day on the final day!

By: Grayson Meck, Virginia Tech Agricultural Sciences

Summer Day Camp Week 2: Horticulture

I am elated to say that our second week of day camps went very well, including participation from 10 of the 11 listed campers previously recorded. Unlike the previous week, I wasn’t simply going to sit by idly and watch Ed run the whole camp. In fact, I was in charge of running the very first day! My topic was primarily concerned with plant cycles, pollinators, and metamorphosis. When I woke up early Monday morning, I wasn’t nervous, per say, however I was a little bit worried that my activities wouldn’t fit the allotted 4 hours, that the campers would visibly not have a good time due to some of the dry subject matter, or that some other miscellaneous problem might arise. Once the campers arrived, I was excited to see that about 8 of them were returners from the previous weeks Food Camp and all were pretty excited that I would be leading that day and also participating in the camp for the rest of the week. We introduced ourselves, and dove straight into our pinwheel activity–which was essentially the four stages of a plant life cycles glued onto a straw and the plant grows as the camper spins it. The activity went surprisingly longer than I had intended, and after some discussion with Ed after that day had ended, we decided it was because I hadn’t actually done the activity myself and thus didn’t give the best directions to the campers on how best to craft their pinwheel. Around 9 o’clock, I moved onto the next activity which was a simple metamorphosis bracelet with the four stages of a butterfly separated by beads. I think the campers enjoyed this activity because eventually they just ripped off the stages and wore it as a beaded bracelet. Then from about 9:30-10 the campers were given a small clay pot and were given the chance to fingerprint lady bugs, bats, beetles, etc. along with a 4-H clover embedded with wild flowers to plant at home. Some of the campers were very creative here and made several out-of -the-box thumbprints! For our snack around 10 o’clock, students were given a banana, two pretzels, two cranberries, and two apple slices to form a neat looking butterfly snack, which all of them devoured quickly after completing them. Next was our BEE a pollinator activity in which students acted as bees and walked to their neighbors brown paper bag with a flower drawn on it to touch the drawing and gain a better understanding about pollinators and the methods with which plants can transfer pollen from one plant to the next. The following activity (which can be seen up top in an image of one of the aquaponics basil plant) was the campers’ favorite as they learned that several plants do not need soil to grow. Using a Ball mason jar, a net pot, clay rocks, and a basil seed, the students assembled their own aquaponics basil plant that they could take home and show to their parents. This was fun for me as well because I enjoy coming to the office every morning to check and see how well my basil plant is doing! My first obstacle came after this activity, however, because it didn’t take nearly as long as I had planned and I had been planning on performing a flower dissection, but Ed and I hadn’t communicated well over the weekend to remember to purchase flowers for that activity. But a simple review activity that I had printed in the case of something like this happening was just long enough to fill the void in time, and the students used different shaped pasta to glue onto a four leafed piece of paper with labels to review the life cycle of a butterfly. The final 10 or so minutes were spent coloring a coloring page and a crossword puzzle I had brought in case there was a few extra minutes. In the end I learned quite a lot from that day, mostly that much like the job of an Extension Agent, there will be on-the-go issues that agents will have to combat in their actual programs, as well. I was prepared well enough to fill that block of time with an extra activity and all ended well. On Tuesday, a second year intern from Hanover (Savannah, also a Virginia Tech student) led the fruits and vegetables day filled with some cool activities as well and I helped wherever needed. Edward finished of Wednesday and Thursday covering insects and floral arrangements. It was a very cool experience to lead a program and not only see how Edward’s teaching/leading style differed from Miss Kim and Miss Kendra’s from the week before. Of course, the campers saw me as a fun, young teacher that they could get away with certain things, so I did have to make them realize I didn’t deserve to be disrespected just as much as Mr. Ed or their previous two agents. I really enjoyed this week and I am so excited for a short next week with Fourth of July coming up. My plans are to meet with Miss Kendra about helping with activities for July 8th-11th Craft Day Camp. Stay tuned for next weeks updates!

By: Grayson Meck, Agricultural Sciences Virginia Tech

Summer Day Camp Week 1: Food Camp

In my previous post, I explained that my final meeting last Friday would consist of organizing and preparing for the Food Day Camp that we had this week. I am happy to say that all of that planning and discussing payed off, as we had a large total of 16 campers attend–and as far as I can tell they had a BLAST! Of course, the actual planning of the activities to help teach the campers important kitchen safety tips, how to cook, and about germs/bacteria was done by Miss Kim and Miss Kendra since they’re more involved with food nutrition and 4-H, but I was happy to jump in where I could. Most of the time I led the active, game type of activities because I think the kids enjoyed the presence of someone closer to their age. On the first day, I think Miss Kim and Miss Kendra could tell I might be a little anxious (I wasn’t very nervous since I’ve been a camp counselor for several years in the past). However, once I got up and led an introduction game where the campers got to introduce themselves and I introduced myself, too, I quickly realized that it was going to be a fun week filled with smiles and great food! Speaking of food, Miss Kendra and Miss Kim picked some excellent recipes for the kids that included many common household cooking machines in order to put them in the hands-on type of scenario that 4-H and FFA strive for. On Monday, we made Quinoa Pizza Bites, several different types of cheese spreads, and then provided a cheese plate with over 8 different kinds of cheese for them to try. In addition to the cooking, we emphasized the importance of dairy and made sure the campers knew that June is Dairy Month. The next day was focused primarily on breakfast and its importance for kids their age as they need to get that fiber, energy, and calcium that will help them grow strong. First, we cooked a variety of muffins, each containing a different type of flour (all-purpose, whole wheat, half all-purpose half whole wheat, and gluten free) to see if the campers might actually find that they enjoy these healthier alternatives. After some more fun and games, we made omelets in mugs, providing several different herbs and cheese choices. And to wrap the day up, the campers used mixers to create a sorbet for the following day. On Wednesday, the primary focus was vegetables and fruits. Along with several activities meant to emphasize the vitamins and minerals provided by fruits and vegetables, the campers made a stir fry with vegetables and noodles–which most of them enjoyed tremendously! Our second recipe for that day was yogurt parfaits, which I indulged in as well. On our final day of Camp this Thursday, our primary focus was protein. We played fruit bingo, the fishing food pyramid, and did a bacteria growing activity, but the highlight of that day was our Parmesan Chicken Nuggets. To go along with the nuggets, I was in charge of making the brown rice and orange salad, which to my surprise, the kids seem to like a lot! It was pretty tough saying goodbye to all the guys who wouldn’t be attending next weeks Horticulture camp, but when they left the kitchen demo room with big smiles on their faces, I couldn’t help but feel a huge sense of reward and accomplishment for providing a safe, educational program in which they met new friends, cooked new recipes, and learned in the process. That being said, today’s agenda was focused primarily on heading out to Wal-Mart and Lowes with Ed to get all of the supplies we will need for next weeks Horticulture Day Camp! I must say I am a little nervous because I am leading the entire first day with my own planned out activities, and I think most of my nervousness comes from the question of whether or not I picked activities that the kids will truly enjoy! Also, I am hoping that I can stick to my agenda time-table so that there won’t be any time wasted and that the campers are busy throughout. In either case, I am very, very excited to see all that Ed has planned for the rest of the week, and I am sure it will be just as successful as this past week! It’s so hard to believe June is coming to a close here soon, but I am proud to say that I have done something significant here at the Henrico office, and can’t wait to contribute more over the next few weeks!

By: Grayson Meck

A Summary of This Week:

Over the past week here in the Henrico County Extension office, I have done much of the same program planning as last week, but I also got to tag along with Ed on a few meetings and site visits, as well. As I’ve learned already, the life of an extension agent is one of flexibility and variety on a day to day basis. So, whether I was in the office filling out the templates for each activity for the upcoming Horticulture Day Camp or simply making copies for Ed or another co-worker in the office, I have really been trying to do my best to soak up as much information as I am able from conversation in the office, newly printed flyers, or updates on the Extension website. One thing has remained clear to me throughout my entire time here in the office: Each agent or employee has obligations that they work on together as a whole in order to best collaborate and improve previous or future programs, but also have their own, job-related work that is separate from everyone else’s. That being said, I have worked much of this week on my own time in order to make sure I will be well-organized and conduct enough activities for my day when that time comes, but I also went to Deep Run Park near my house with Ed on Tuesday to meet with the Recs and Park employees there to get a better sense of the layout/commodities for the Bug Bizarre to be help this September. It was interesting to me to see that really great relationship that Extension has with Recs and Parks because it allows for a cheap, easy-to-run event with little need for reaching out to rent chairs or other outside resources. On Thursday, I took a little break from my own program planning and met in the conference room with Kim and Kendra who have been putting together the Food Day Camp schedule over the past couple weeks and we assigned a couple of the activities to be led by me. It should be a nice warm up for my day the following week for the Horticulture Day Camp that I will lead on my own. Finally, today I visited a man with Ed who had called in complaining that the trees down his neighborhood cul de sac. To my surprise, Ed immediately had a reasonable explanation for the low-lying, damaged leaves on the right side of the road. He immediately says, ” It’s obviously because of the recent pave. No pests or diseases would be affecting multiple trees this way.” I quickly recognized that the exhaust must’ve blown up towards the same height on each tree lining the road, and I was pretty impressed by Ed’s quick response. All in all it was another great week here in the Henrico Extension Office, and I am very excited for Day Camps to begin next week! Stay tuned for my next post!

By: Grayson Meck, Virginia Tech Agricultural Sciences

This Weeks Recap

Since my post last week I have had several new learning experiences that have furthered my understanding of Henrico Cooperative Extension’s outreach to the surrounding area significantly. On Saturday morning I headed over to Dorey Park for the annual Celebrate Varina event where Ed and I helped explain the components of the Virginia Tech/VSU collaborated mobile aquaponics trailer. Much to my delight, my limited amount of knowledge on the subject didn’t impede on my ability to quickly learn the basics from Ed’s explanations in order to interact with folks who were interested. It was also at this event where I took on the job of maintaining our contact log–which is basically a count of the race and age range of all who we spoke with throughout the event. The only other out of office trip I attended this week took place on Wednesday when Kim (Department Head/Unit Coordinator) and I set up our nutrition booth at the READ Center’s Health and Nutrition Fair at the Robinson Theater Community Arts Building downtown. I thoroughly enjoyed our trip because it gave me a much larger appreciation for the diverse ways in which Extension is reaching out to the public–i.e. it isn’t simply agriculture and gardening based, but rather covers vast topics like financial help and health/nutrition. Aside from those two program activities, most of my responsibilities have been conducted in the office instead of meetings with other organizations like the three or four that Ed and I attended in the first week. My primary concern has been ordering and creating a road map for the first day of the Horticulture Day Camp that I am still on track to lead on my own, and so far I am pretty excited for the way its shaping up! I have about nine different activities planned including flower dissections and making hydroponic mason jars as the highlights of the day. The difficult challenge for me as I began to order the activities was allocating time for a break and then identifying a health-conscientious snack that related to pollination/plant anatomy. Eventually I found a pretty cool idea online of a food butterfly made up of a banana, two pretzels for its wings, celery as its antennas, and cranberries for the eyes. I think the kids will enjoy them! As this week is coming to a close, I am currently working on my list of materials to turn into Ed so that he can get it ordered ahead of time with no problems as camp approaches. I have also been focused on designing a week long plan of action for Pollinator Week on June 17th-23rd, including a picture and an informational caption to go with it. So far I have the first three posts done, am I am trying to dial up my creativity as I think about Thursday and Friday’s posts. Finally, I wrote my second Weekly Native Plant Post for the Facebook account on the American Elderberry. I haven’t reviewed it with Ed just yet, but based on his reaction to last week’s post, I am hoping there shouldn’t be any issues! Stay tuned for next week’s learning experiences and learning opportunities as I continue to try and contribute to Henrico County Extension services in whatever ways I am able!