Ava Hastings recently completed an internship with Otter Tail County. This is what they had to say about the experience.
Over the course of my summer internship with Otter Tail County, I was able to experience the incredible sense of community that exists within local government in rural Minnesota. Every step of the way, I met some of the friendliest, hardest-working people, all sharing the same goal of uplifting the wonderful community that we call home. During my time with Amy Baldwin and Sarah Bernstetter, I had the opportunity to apply my knowledge of marketing, data analytics, and communications through a variety of projects I worked on throughout the summer. These experiences allowed me to strengthen the skills I developed in the classroom while gaining valuable hands-on experience working with real projects that make a difference in local communities.
My main objective for this internship was to create and complete a marketing campaign highlighting the underutilized resources available through the Business Development page. I also had the opportunity to work on the Community Growth Partnership Grant Report, the quarterly Community Development and Business Development newsletter, create reports for other county departments using Placer.ai, and calculate the return on investment of the Empowered Worker program as it shifted its priority areas. Working on such a wide variety of projects helped me become more confident in my communication, research, and analytical skills while showing me how data and marketing can be used to support community and economic development.
I was able to watch and learn how meetings are conducted at many levels of local government, from Board of Commissioners meetings to check-in meetings with cities across Otter Tail County. During my time shadowing Amy and Sarah, I also had the opportunity to travel throughout the county and across the state, joining the Economic Growth and Community Investment Tour with County Commissioners, the Minnesota Association of Professional County Economic Developers quarterly meeting, the FM Small Business Summit, and Chamber Café events. These experiences gave me valuable networking opportunities and a better understanding of how local governments, businesses, and community organizations work together to support economic growth.