Intern Spotlight
Emma Childs
While
most of her classmates spent their summer taking vacations or working, Berry
junior Emma Childs interned at Heifer Ranch’s 1,200-acre property in
remote Perryville, Arkansas, enduring the 110-degree heat and teaching groups
of middle school students about issues like animal husbandry, sustainable
agricultural processes, and some of the implications of the world’s
ever-increasing population. She also led the children on tours and overnight
stays at Heifer’s “Global Village,” where they see exhibits and
engage in activities designed to teach visitors where our food comes from, why
we should care, and what we can do to end world hunger. Emma also taught
a class called “Just Dough It,” in which the children are able to make and eat
their own pizzas after learning about each step in the process of getting food
from farm to table.
The
experience made a deep impact on Emma, who says that she feels called “to work
in this field in an inner city environment, specifically low-income, minority
communities” or possibly abroad. “I can’t completely put a finger on exactly
why I feel drawn to this part of the world, but I always have,” she says. “My
heart breaks for those growing up in a concrete jungle without ever seeing a
plant bloom or a cow being milked in person. Shouldn’t every human have the
opportunity to pull a carrot from the earth and then eat it? My time at Heifer
made me realize even more that this is where I am supposed to end up – in a
place full of diversity, of dirt, of hard questions, of goats and bees, tons of
vegetables, sunshine, strangers becoming friends, and the sharing of life.”
Emma, who
designed an Interdisciplinary Studies major involving a variety of
environmental engineering and animal science classes, describes her time at the
ranch as, “the most
challenging summer I have ever had,” but also says the
summer taught her that she absolutely loves teaching. “I have had the
opportunity to empower these kids and encourage them to affect positive change
in our world. How many people can say they have had that privilege?”