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Simone Cahoj
RR 2 Box 133
Atwood, KS 67730
monet_marie6@hotmail.com
785-626-3321 (home)
785-626-0666 (cell)
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Places I visited for the first time:
Amarillo, TX
Atwood, KS
Campo, CO
Canadian, TX
Crowell, TX
Dimmitt, TX
Fairview, OK
Hart, TX
Lubbock, TX
Matador, TX
Nazareth, TX
Oklahoma City, OK
Paducah, TX
Pritchett, CO
Springfield, CO
Tulia, TX
Turkey, TX
Two Buttes, CO
Vilas, CO
Walsh, CO
Waynoka, OK |
Projects that I worked on:
Rawlins County Free Land
EDS Surveys
Sunflower Wind Project
Rawlins County Babies: Class of 2025
Rawlins County Dental Clinic HTC meetings
RCED meetings
Rawlins County Farmers Market
Playa Lakes Teachers' Training Playa Lakes Appreciation Day Ogallala Commons Entrepreneurship Learning Day,
Crowell Summer Adventure Series
Canadian's 4th of July
Oklahoma Food Cooperative Baca County Resource Center
Campo Youth Advisory Council
What is Ogallala Commons PowerPoint |
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Summary of My Internship
Through my summer internship with Ogallala Commons, I learned more about all that Ogallala Commons does concerning both rural community development and natural resource conservation. I was able to increase my knowledge of rural community development methods and the importance of preserving nature assets through nature tourism. I also was able to make new networks with people and learn more about different regions through my travels throughout the Ogallala Commons area.
Ogallala Commons Internship Journal
By Simone Cahoj
June 4
On the first day of my internship, Chris Sramek and I created the agenda for the monthly HTC (HomeTown Competitiveness) meeting. Our agenda covered the Republican River Riparian Meeting, the High Plains Food Cooperative, plans for this fall's Ogallala Commons Conference, and the beginning of a youth business cooperative.
I worked on ideas to add to our HTC website as well as links that we can add to the Rawlins County Cluster section on the Ogallala Commons website. With Chris's approval it has been decided to create a link to the Rawlins County HTC page on the Ogallala Commons site.
I also gathered newspaper articles on local events involving Ogallala Commons and sent them to Darryl for placement on the O.C. website.
June 5
Rawlins County Economic Development is working on creating a dental facility here in Atwood. Chris and I researched and contacted 15 dentists that we thought might be interested in starting practice in Atwood. I then attended the Chamber of Commerce meeting, where my internship was discussed as well as issues regarding Atwood's fair parade and the installment of a sign on I-70 indicating Highway 25 which passes through Atwood, linking I-70 and I-80.
I have been working on Economic Development System (EDS) Surveys, to find out what our community businesses need economic development to assist them with. We hope to be able to generate more funds to provide our county businesses with more support. I plan on distributing the surveys and then tallying them to see what plans our local businesses have.
June 6
I called various youth entrepreneurs to see if they would be interested in participating in a panel discussion on October 10. I received a response from only one entrepreneur on my first day.
Chris had me arrange pictures of Atwood buildings in a list for the Sunflower Wind group. They are looking for two buildings in Northwest Kansas to manufacture wind turbines and also monitor the amount of energy produced by the turbines which will be located in Northwest Kansas. The manufacturing plant needs to be a large square footage building with high ceilings and easy access to highways, the interstate and railways. Our list includes eleven buildings.
In the afternoon I continued distributing the EDS Surveys to community businesses.
June 7
I continued contacting youth entrepreneurs for the fall conference. I got response for another young man who was not a winner in the fair but was still continuing on with his business idea.
I added another local building to our list of buildings for Sunflower Wind and continued on the EDS survey gathering. I also placed birth notices up on local businesses doors. We have had three new babies in the last month.
June 8
Twenty-one acres of our Rawlins County Free Land plots for homes are marked by two old worn signs, so today Jenny Sramek and I are working on sprucing them up and advertising our free land program. We are giving the back sides a fresh coat of paint and changing the signs so they read, "Free Land for your home and business. Imagine the Possibilities." Imagine the Possibilities is the slogan for Convergence Homes, the company that will be building houses for the free land plots. A picture of the sign is below.
Week #1 Summary
This week I was introduced to almost all of the Rawlins County Economic Development projects. I worked on the Rawlins County Dental Clinic, the Sunflower Wind Project, the Free Land project and the Economic Development Surveys. I was glad to be able to help in hopefully bringing a wind turbine manufacturer to Atwood as well as seeing if our county commissioners would be willing to provide funds for county business development.
Simone displaying birth announcements | 
Simone and Jenny work on signs |
June 11
Today Jenny and I worked to complete the second sign for Free Land. Chris and I also discussed ideas for beginning a Rawlins County Farmers' Market to promote small farms and additional income opportunities for farmers, the High Plains Food Cooperative, and our Rawlins County communities. The Chamber of Commerce used to organize a summer Farmers' Market but with the change of Chamber Directors it had been discontinued for about five years.
June 12
Today I continued picking up the EDS surveys. We have about 15 surveys returned. Over the weekend, our county had two new babies. I have been assigned to get the babies' information for the Birth Announcement sheets. I have also started gathering information for the farmers' market we plan on starting at the end of June. I found a website with Kansas Farmers' Market regulations and ideas for starting a farmers' market.
I worked on cutting and addressing postcards we had designed to send to dentists in Denver, Aurora and Garden City. We found a link on the Kansas Dental Association (KDA) website that gave us addresses of dentists in those areas.
June 13
I sent out 22 letters to people interested in the food cooperative as well as other local producers about the farmers' market. We also had an article published in the paper announcing that we are looking for vendors for the farmer's market as well as including a list of products which are acceptable according to Kansas Farmers' Market standards. I distributed the two newest birth announcements around town. I was very excited with the fact that we have had six new babies in May and June, so I decided to look around and see how many babies we have had since last September; the babies for the Class of 2025.
At 5:00, I attended the Rawlins County Economic Development meeting where Chris and I informed the board of the advancements in the various projects especially the free land and Sunflower Wind projects. I learned about many community funds that exist that might help with the Student Credit Incentive which is Chris's idea to offer $100 per month per student that might be brought to the school system by the Sunflower Wind project.
June 14
I attended a 7:30 a.m. meeting with Chris in St. Francis with the Cheyenne Initiative Association (CIA), where we discussed the Sunflower Wind project and the Student Credit Initiative with them. We were interested to see their response to the Sunflower Wind project in St. Francis. We also asked if there were any vacant buildings that they would like us to include on the building proposal list for Sunflower Wind.
I then worked on finishing the postcards that we had designed to send to dentists in Denver, Aurora and Garden City. In total, we sent out 300 postcards to dentists seeing if any one would be interested in either starting a practice in Atwood or creating a satellite office in Atwood.
June 15
Today I gathered as many EDS surveys as I could before I left. We have a total of 27 surveys. I worked on designing a farmers' market flier that could be changed and handed out each week to different businesses. Blake Hampton volunteered to help out this summer distributing birth announcements and farmers' market fliers. Since we will be rotating the farmers' market between Atwood, Herndon, and McDonald during the summer, the fliers will help to keep our citizens aware of the schedule. I also finished my class of 2025 list. There were 13 babies that were born from September of 2006 till June 15. Their birth announcements cover Chris' window in the economic development office. With 13 babies plus those that arrive with jobs from Sunflower Wind and Cencast, Inc., our future is looking bright.
Week #2 Summary
Through my work with the EDS surveys I learned that our local businesses are very disgruntled with the lack of support from community members. Although they are grateful for their current customers support, they wish that more local people would support their business or at least look before going elsewhere to do business. With today's technology, our local businesses can provide the same services that other businesses in large towns can do with a local comfort. I learned a lot about Sunflower Wind and wind energy as well as the regulations of farmers' markets.
June 18
Today was my first day in Texas. After getting acquainted with the town of Nazareth, Jayme Flores (the second OC Summer Intern), Darryl Birkenfeld (OC Executive Director) and I started gathering things for tomorrow's Playa Lakes Education Workshop. We got pasture-raised chickens grown in Hereford, TX and then picked fresh spinach, broccoli, cabbage and arugula, for tomorrow's lunch. In the afternoon we also went and cleaned the Home Merc and organized the tables for a productive meeting atmosphere.
I received an email today from a 2006 Entrepreneur Fair winner who said she would be interested in participating in the fall panel discussion.
June 19
Today we had the Playa Lakes Teachers Training in the Home Merc. I learned about what makes a playa a playa and that is the type of soil, that there is a depression and the diverse environment. I filmed part of the presentation by the speaker, Dave Haukos. We toured a playa two miles north of Nazareth, where on a small hike we found 15 different plants. I learned that playa's diverse environments are usually home to 300 types of plants. The playa we toured was not very active due to the fact that there were cattle that changed the playa's environment.
I then learned about the importance of draws and springs. We then enjoyed our locally raised meal and then helped the caterer clean up. We went to Casa la Entereza to discuss where the teachers wanted to start their water festivals.
June 20
Today I went to the Home Merc and worked on the computer looking at the Greater Nazareth Gold Pages, a list of businesses in the Greater Naz. area. I also looked at the High Plains Public Radio website (www.hppr.org) where I learned that the HPPR has a radio station in Atwood and covers all of western Kansas. HPPR works to keep its listeners informed on farm news, area water updates, and local events as well as playing classical, jazz music and having a daily reading time. HPPR also has a weekly or bi-weekly program about the playas.
I also learned about an environmental friendly house outside of Taos, NM called Angel's Nest, which is run by hydrogen. It has both gray and black water tanks, wind turbines, solar panels and a hydrogen separator.
Darryl and I then went to the Senior Citizens Center for lunch where we announced that through the summer there would be someone at the Home Merc to assist any one with any problems they had or things they wanted to learn about computers. After lunch I had one lady who needed help with uploading pictures on to a form, so I taught her what she needed to do to upload pictures onto her computer as well as adding them as attachment in emails.
June 21
Today Jayme and I got to tour the Texas Tech campus and the Southwest Collection building in Lubbock with Andy Wilkinson. We got the behind-the-scenes look at where the artifacts and books come in, how they are cared for, the room where the exhibits are made and the upper level where the books and films are stored until needed. I learned that Texas Tech University has the largest Vietnam War Archives next to Washington D.C. and has the largest collection of information from both sides. The Southwest Collection at Texas Tech is the most extensive archives of any United States university. They have rooms where they can digitize pictures, readings, and interviews. Someday they would like to digitize albums of songs they have that are the recordings of songs before they were mixed and edited for CDs and records. Although there were not any of the Ogallala Commons displays available for us to look at, we did get to see a display of playas that was a new project.
Jayme and I then went to Holden Hall to view the 1300 square foot mural painted by Peter Hurd. The mural depicted people that you would commonly see in the early pioneer days such as a banker, a surveyor, a doctor, a pioneer woman, a teacher, and a merchant. There were 16 different panels displaying these people in the Rotunda of Holden Hall. The mural was painted in the fresco style, such that the plaster must remain wet and is then painted with wet paint. The mural held much detail and nicely depicted the early pioneer lifestyle.
To finish our day of learning we visited the Ranching Heritage Museum to learn about the early ranches in Western Texas. There were about 30 different buildings, most in their original form depicting the early pioneer lifestyle. One of the 6666 Ranch Barns was part of the Ranching Heritage Museum's display.
Week #3 Summary
The third week of my internship I was introduced to the Texas way of life. I really learned about the importance of playas and the role that they play in the recharge of the Ogallala Aquifer and their role in the diverse life of the Texas Panhandle and the Llano Estacado. I learned about the importance of saving rainwater in Texas and finding alternative uses of energy and building materials.
June 25
Today the Texas Cooperative Extension held a Playa Lake Appreciation Day in Nazareth. We went and learned all about management of playas and how to create a buffer and make a playa better for the surrounding environment. I learned a lot more about the diverse plant life in playas as well as the ways that the many conservation offices such as Texas Parks and Wildlife, US Fish and Wildlife Service, USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service, and county extension agents can all help to supply you with information and some resources to create wetland reserves. I learned how hunting can be a way to increase the economy in rural areas. I was excited to think that Rawlins County uses its natural resources in this way because we have a few hunting lodges and numerous bed and breakfasts. We then toured two playas, one which was Darryl's. We learned from some of the experts present such as Gene Miller and Charles Coffman that Darryl's playa is considered mostly dry and that is why it is lacking a large variety of Pink Smartweed and Barnyard Grass. The second playa we toured was a very wet playa that was filled with many different types of plant life. Luke Lewis shared his idea with starting a dove hunt in one of the playas where the cover is good. He told also told us about his Ochiltree County project to get farmers to preserve their playas.
June 26
Today I attended the Ogallala Commons Entrepreneurship Training / Learning Day in Tulia. I learned that an entrepreneur is someone who sees an opportunity and acts to create an enterprise around that opportunity. However, an entrepreneur does not just start a business and run it; an entrepreneur also continues to reflect and plan ways to innovate the business. Entrepreneurs can range from the aspiring entrepreneur, someone who has a desire to own their own business, and survival entrepreneurs, someone who creates enterprises to supplement family income to growth entrepreneurs, someone who is proactively expand businesses for the creation of jobs and wealth and serial entrepreneurs, someone who is a repeat entrepreneur with several growth businesses throughout a community. I found out that I am somewhat of an aspiring and serial entrepreneur because I haven't started a business yet but I have a dream to own my own business. I also have a few different entrepreneurial jobs I'm come up with.
After today's workshop I also learned about Commonwealth Communities Entrepreneurial Support Centers which supply entrepreneurs with resources such as copiers, brochure making, advertising, help with real estate, accounting and legal services and insurance and computer skills. I would like to be able to start a support center like this in Atwood not only as a support center for entrepreneurs but a resource center with computers, printers, copiers and help for all citizens with all these services in one convenient location.
Jayme and I then rode with Remelle to Crowell, TX and got a tour of Crowell. We learned that the best way to support an entrepreneur is to buy from their store, so we went and toured The Crazy Lady Trading Post and their catering business. Jayme and I also did our internship duty and bought something to support their store.
June 27
Today I learned about the 3 Rivers Foundation or 3RF that has played a huge part in the development of Foard County, TX. One of their biggest investments and projects is the Comanche Springs Astronomy Campus. 3RF is a community foundation that is involved especially in supporting the arts and sciences. Their project for the Astronomy Campus is one project they are using to support the sciences. They are focusing on promoting the sciences because the United States has scored really low over the past few years in the science and technology department.
We spoke at Rotary about what we have been doing and what we think the biggest assets and challenges are in rural communities. I feel that the greatest assets most rural communities have are their citizens and their attitudes, and their school systems. These two things are what will help rural communities survive. At the same time I feel that the attitudes and traditions of a community can be a rural community's greatest challenges because if changes need to be done, attitudes and traditions must sometimes be changed.
Jayme and I then became telemarketers to remind community members of Crowell about the last night of the Adventure Series which would be Thursday night.
June 28
Today we learned about preserving traditions and utilizing local natural resources by making wild plum and mint jelly. By picking wild plums we utilized our local natural resources. We were able to learn about the importance of preserving traditions by making jelly. Although the jelly we made is going to be used as gifts and appreciation presents, making jelly using homegrown products can be an entrepreneurship business venture.
This evening we participated in the final adventure series, tank tells, where we learned about the importance of preserving history and the role that storytelling plays in its preservation.
Week #4 Summary
This week I learned more about the importance of entrepreneurship. I learned about the many entrepreneurs in Crowell such as Melinda and Rusty, the owners of the Crazy Lady Trading Post, and the owner of the local pharmacy who offered things other than just medicine. The local pharmacy offered products such as medicine, jeans and boots, gifts, cards and food. I also learned about the importance of community foundations and the importance of technology in our society through my visit to 3RF and to the Comanche Springs Astronomy Campus. I was very excited to learn about nature tourism and the importance of preserving traditions. In Kansas, nature tourism is a popular business venture but tying the idea of preserving traditions with nature tourism is a new concept to me.
Simone and Jayme picking sand plums. | 
Simone and Jayme making jelly. |
July 2
Upon our arrival in Canadian, Jayme and I began work on the 4th of July festivities. We also received a tour of Canadian's revitalized downtown. I learned that 11 years ago all of downtown Canadian was boarded up. However, after the revitalization of the Palace Theatre, the rest of the downtown has begun to flourish again. The Chamber of Commerce is working to repair the Main Street and Third Street to the brick streets.
July 3
Today Jayme and I worked with Jessica Russell to get all the supplies we need for tomorrow's festivities. We gathered all available trash cans to put on the courthouse lawn, salt, chili powder and knives for the watermelon feed, and clipboards and pencils for us, the parade judges. We also made sure that all wagon ride signs and water for sale were in order. Canadian has two local wagon and horse teams that offer free rides from the courthouse throughout the day.
Jayme and I went to some of the main businesses along the highway and Main Street and delivered Visitor's Guides, 4th of July schedules, and the Texas Prairie Rivers Regions publications, Postcards.
Since we then had all the supplies needed for the next day, we went to Lake Marvin which is part of the Chamber of Commerce's duties. While there we swept and replaced all the trash cans and liners. When we got back to the Chamber of Commerce office, we worked on cleaning out the file room. There were a lot of old brochures advertising events that had already happened so we recycled two big trash bags of paper and slick materials. We also worked to make sure there were enough maps and brochures for the 4th of July in the Visitors Center.
July 4
Jayme, Tressame and I were the Parade judges because of our out-of-town status. We were in charge of selecting winners from each of the ten categories. This year's parade was the largest that Canadian has ever had. It was also one of the only year's that the parade started on time. After the parade, we were free to enjoy Canadian's 4th of July until 4:00. At 4:00 we returned to the courthouse to pick up trash on the courthouse lawn. We then returned the trash cans and tables to the visitors' center before heading to the rodeo grounds for the watermelon feed. The 4th of July crowd was so big that there were only four watermelons left out of 30.
Week #5 Summary
While in Canadian, I realized just how much a town truly thrives on its downtown. It was interesting learning about the different ways that a community celebrates their 4th of July. I also enjoyed learning about Canadian's historic downtown and wagon bridge. Canadian is home to about four homes that are listed on the Texas Historic Homes list.
Interns on courthouse lawn cleanup. | 
Simone prepares for the crowd! |
July 16
When we arrived in Waynoka, Oklahoma, Kim Barker asked us if we could help him herd the sheep in so he could take two of them to Stillwater the next day. Herding sheep, I learned is a lot more difficult than herding cattle because if one sheep goes one way the rest will definitely follow.
After herding sheep we received a tour of Waynoka and the surrounding area from Kim. We were introduced to Little Sahara State Park. I learned that there are few citizens of Waynoka that want to take advantage of the tourism that the Little Sahara State Park brings in. Little Sahara State Park is a state park with sand dunes that brings in about 200,000 people from across the U.S., who drive their ATVs and dune buggies to the park. Because of this large amount of tourists, Waynoka could benefit greatly from Little Sahara State Park. We then went and took a back roads tour of the beautiful scenery of Waynoka that many of its citizens don't know exist. We discussed the possibilities of this becoming a nature tourism destination to go with Little Sahara State Park and Alabaster Caverns.
July 17
Today Jayme and I helped with the brainstorming a stargazing party in Waynoka. They are planning on making hot dogs and s'mores over a bonfire. Jayme and I suggested that they also bring in older community members to tell stories about how Waynoka used to be; this way their stargazing party would be similar to Crowell's adventure series. We also suggested they use Crowell's system of the story stone to get the youth participating involved in the tradition of storytelling.
I then informed Angie, the Waynoka Chamber of Commerce director, about the Youth Entrepreneur Fair. She wanted to know how we went about doing it and what the qualifications were to participate. She thought that the Waynoka students could benefit from an entrepreneur fair.
Julie Barker then took Jayme and I to Fairview, OK to tour the Major County Economic Development Business Incubator. We learned that this business incubator provided a rent free building for the first year, free secretarial services, free wireless internet, and a 10-year tax exemption. This incubator also provided attorney, insurance, and accounting services for free to the business owners. The incubator provides an office and/or production facilities for new businesses until they outgrow the facilities due to their success. Its current tenants are From the Woods, barbeque sauce and pickles, and Gloss Mountain Homes, a company that builds modular homes that are delivered to the site already assembled with cabinets and carpet. Two of its success stories have been Fairview Home Health and Progressive Windows. I realized that Atwood or any small town for that manner could offer a business incubator that provides services for entrepreneurs and new businesses. A business incubator and an entrepreneurial support center could be a two-in-one facilities where entrepreneurial ideas could be fostered and further developed.
July 18
Today we visited Alabaster Caverns State Park in Freedom, Oklahoma. We toured the one large cave there that is a three-quarter mile walk through it and at the lowest point we were 80 feet below the surface. This cave had four different types of alabaster including black alabaster which is one of the rarest forms of alabaster. There was also selite crystals and gypsum in the cave, as well as a spring that flowed through the entire length of the cave. Jayme and I were adventurous and took one of the paths that settlers traveling through the cave would have taken.
We then returned to Waynoka and visited the Harvey House Museum. Fred Harvey started about 84 Harvey Houses along the Santa Fe railroad when the railroad was a big thing. Harvey Houses provided a place for travelers to stay and get rested up before continuing on their traveling. Fred Harvey's other main goal in starting Harvey Houses was to provide clean, elegant restaurants for travelers. Waynoka believes they have the only Harvey House left standing. The Harvey house in Waynoka is also important because Amelia Earhart and Charles Lindbergh picked it as a transfer spot on the Transcontinental Air Transport a route that used planes and trains to get its passengers from New York to Los Angeles in 48 hours. At Waynoka, passengers would arrive by plane from Wichita, Kansas and continue by train to Clovis, New Mexico.
After our tour of the Harvey House, we returned to Kim's house and started filling the orders that would be going to the Oklahoma Food Cooperative in Oklahoma City the next day. We gathered the meat and either put it in bundles which are 10 one pound packages of hamburger or we filled it in smaller orders of one to four packages. Kim also sells ground lamb, lamb chops, rack of lamb, hamburger patties, lamb parts and free range eggs. After we filled all of the orders we made homemade ice cream using a five gallon ice cream maker.
Then at about 10:00 p.m. when Kim's pickup got fixed we went and loaded up the freezer and loaded all of the orders we had filled earlier into the freezer so they would be ready to go in the morning.
July 19
We were on the road by 6:30 this morning because we had to pickup John Gosney's orders to take them to Oklahoma City. John raises organic wheat and makes his own flour out of it. He also raises grass fed beef. I learned that grass fed beef does not have e coli in it, like grain fed beef does. We arrived at the OSU Horticulture center, which is where the food is all sorted to its different pickup locations, at about 10:30. After our arrival we were put to work sorting the food to the correct customers' pile. I was in charge of sorting food for four different pickup locations, which were Southwest Okalahoma City, Homet, Hobart, and Chickasha. Every customer has an invoice and when you deliver their orders to their invoice you make sure to check off that product. If the product needs refrigeration or to be frozen there are ice chests provided with water ice for refrigeration and dry ice for frozen stuff. You have to make sure to write down which freezer or refrigerator their product is in. After I finished sorting around 2:00, we loaded up all of the Edmond coolers and delivered them to the pick-up center in Edmond. When we returned to the OSU Horticulture Center we loaded up all of the orders we had to deliver to Enid, Waynoka and Hennessey and headed back to Waynoka. After all of our drop-off stops we arrived back in Waynoka at 9:00.
Week #6 Summary
My week in Waynoka, Oklahoma was very educational. I was very excited to be able to help on the Food Cooperative because Atwood and Saint Francis are starting the High Plains Food Cooperative. Our food will be delivered and distributed to customers in the Denver area. On delivery day there is a very electric atmosphere. People are going non-stop just sorting orders and making sure everything gets where it needs to be.
This week I also learned a lot about the wonderful nature tourism opportunities that are in Oklahoma, especially the Waynoka area. Since Waynoka just had their community forum a few weeks ago, they are definitely on the right track to taking part in the tourism rush in the area. They have good ideas that will help to attract visitors and also get the community youth involved.
Simone prowls the Alabaster Caverns! | 
Loading coolers on Food Coop delivery day |
Sorting Coop delivery items in Oklahoma City
July 23
Today I visited many different offices and projects in Springfield, Colorado, county seat of the Baca County. I first learned about Springfield's many projects that were done with grant money. The Colorado lottery has a fund, GOCO that is set up to fund outdoor projects. They have a memorial park and a city park that were both built by GOCO funds. Their swimming pool is going to be relined soon with GOCO funds. Many other projects have been done through grants as well.
I then toured the county courthouse which has recently been named to the Colorado Historical Buildings list. The original part was built in 1916. The two other parts were built in 1929 and then in 1935 as a WPA project. After being named to the historical buildings list they are eligible for grants to redo the courthouse. Their plans include making it handicap accessible as well as opening up boarded up windows and fixing the building where the foundation has moved.
The county commissioners spoke with me about future plans for industry the county has. They are being looked at right now as a sight for a factory that makes Easiboard which is a material used in building that is made out of straw. This material is fireproof and provides great acoustics. The straw is made fireproof when it is compacted into the wall because all the oxygen is taken out. This material will eliminate the uses of insulation and boards for studs in walls. Also, if used as a door it can last 60 minutes in a fire compared to a normal wood door which will only last 20 minutes. This will provide 30 jobs for the community as well as create a place for straw to be used. The company will buy straw from the farmers at $75 a ton.
Baca County is the windiest county in Colorado so the county hopes to be able to put in more wind turbines. There is a great demand for building wind turbines but not as much for laying transmission lines.
The Baca County Resource Center is home to the museum, library and senior citizens center. It was built three years ago from a grant from the Colorado Department of Local Affairs and community donations. The first library in the county was started by a woman's club in 1925. Beulah Collins is in charge of the county's three libraries. Besides the library in Springfield, there is one in Walsh and Two Buttes. The county's first museum was started in 1960 by the Pioneer Club.
Another project that Springfield is proud of is their track. Until seven years ago, the only track they had was a dirt track. However, with help from community businesses and individuals as well as the Gates Company out of Denver the community has had one of the nicest tracks around for five years. Not only is it used for school track meets, it provides a safe walking path for community members.
Springfield and other schools in the county use teleconference classes to receive specialty classes such as foreign languages and some social science classes.
Another great asset to the community of Springfield is their hospital. There have been health services provided in Baca County since 1969. The hospital is community run with an elected board of eight members. It is a critical access hospital which is unusual for a small hospital. At the present time a new clinic is being built for their county home health care services as well as the 3 doctors and a PA and specialty clinics. The new clinic is being built with grant money.
July 24
Today I toured the community of Walsh, CO. The newest pride and joy of their community is the Walsh Community Grocery Store, Inc. It was just opened on June 27. The community of Walsh went from September of 2006 to June of 2007 without a grocery store. During that time the community formed a corporation to raise funds to open the store. There are currently 270 shareholders that have contributed $200,000 to reopen the store.
Another project that is ongoing in Walsh is the Gem Theatre. About 20 years ago the Baca County Cultural Development Council redid the Gem Theatre. They started by tearing out the old theater seats and filling in the sloped floor. They received grants to replace the lights and fans. Now the Walsh Art Center as it is known produces, variety shows, children's theatre, art shows, and dinner theatres throughout the year.
Back in 1963, a hospital was also built in Walsh however, as the population shrunk, the hospital has been turned into a nursing home and assisted living center. The nursing home offers many amenities that most nursing homes do not offer, such as a flowerbed for residents to use to plant their own vegetables and flowers. There is also a local clinic, chiropractor and dentist with facilities near the nursing home.
I also toured High Plains Lumber, which is a custom cabinetry place that was started about 15 years ago by a young man who returned home to Walsh. The business started with two employees in a two car garage and has grown to 9 employees in a large shop. There are different people that specialize on different parts such as the frames, drawers, bases, elaborate parts and staining. They don't make the doors so they can save on costs but the doors are bought from a company in Quinter, KS. Most of their business is done in Western Kansas through three different contractors.
On my back to Campo, I stopped in Vilas to visit the Vilas Online School. Vilas as a community only has about 150 citizens; however, they are in charge of an online school with 5,000 students. Their students are K-12 students, 93% of which are from Colorado and the other 7% are from places across the U.S. The online school was started in 1999 and is always changing technology to best suit its students' needs. Right now the school is looking to install four wind turbines to help cover electricity costs. In addition to the online classes, Vilas has a brick and mortar school which was built in 1929. The only industry in Vilas is the lollipop factory. Vilas is home to Country Lollipops, which are distributed in many convenience stores across the United States.
July 25
Today I worked with different groups in Springfield. I started off the day helping Miss Beulah in the library with the Summer Reading program. She had about 11 kids who came to participate in the Summer Reading program. I read a few books about reptiles to the kids and then we all painted snakes. The theme for the week is bugs and other crawly critters. So throughout the week they have made pencil caterpillars and birdhouses.
I then went next door to the Senior Citizens Center and helped deliver Meals on Wheels. I delivered 11 meals. The Meals on Wheels program also provides meals to residents in Walsh and Pritchett. To finish my day I went to the nursing home in Springfield and read to some of the residents. It was very enjoyable to be able to talk to them and find out what life used to be like for them.
I also went and visited the Springfield Child Care Center and Preschool building which was built seven years with grant money and community donations. Some of the kids that morning from the Summer Reading program also went to the Child Care Center.
July 26
Today I went with members of the Campo Youth Advisory Council on a Service Learning trip to Picture Canyon. The Campo Youth Advisory Council consists of seven members from grades 7-12. In Picture Canyon, I learned about the cave paintings and different people that had been through the canyon. There were some paintings that could be dated back to 500 B.C. Very few of the paintings were Native American. Most of the paintings were Ogam or Celtic and Egyptian. It is believed by most locals that the reason for Egyptian and Celtic writings and paintings is at one time the canyons were covered by water and these people just followed the rivers to the area. We ventured on top of Balancing Rock where we could see into Oklahoma. We also visited Crack Cave, which is a very narrow crack where in Ogam it is written that the specific writings will be illuminated on both the spring and fall equinox. The Egyptian paintings were the Egyptian eye.
We then visited a local sculptor's workshop and gallery. Sculptures by Shalah are made in the canyons in Baca County. While there I learned about the process through which bronze and pewter sculptures are made.
To finish the day, I attended a meeting of the Campo Youth Advisory Council. The Youth Advisory Council or YAC was established in the 2006-2007 school year to "empower the youth to make a better community and to support service learning activities by assessing community needs." I learned that service learning is a philosophy that young people are a community's greatest resource and asset, a teaching and learning method that values active learning and experimentation as a context for mastering standards. The YAC was started on a grant. Last year the YAC participated in two Youth Summit conferences, the HTC Academy in Chadron, NE, a Grant Writing Workshop, Youth Entrepreneur Fair, and Adopt-A-Block Clean-up. They are currently putting up new street signs around town, preserving the history of Campo through interviews of elderly, and putting on a flea market in the summer to bring business in to town. They recently went to Washington D.C. to learn how to preserve history to help them with preserving the history of Campo. Each member volunteers to inform six different community committees about the YAC's projects.
Last year for the Youth Entrepreneur Fair Baca County not only raised money for the top three prizes but different community members donated money to be given as prizes for Most Creative and People's Choice so more students were interested in participating. The Baca County schools encouraged participants to enter as partnerships.
July 27
Today Laneha Everett showed me the communities of Two Buttes and Pritchett. Two Buttes old gymnasium is now used as a community building. It was built in 1936 as a WPA project. The third library in the county is in Two Buttes in the old Bank of Baca County building which was built in 1912. I learned that from the Southeastern corner of Colorado into parts of Northeastern New Mexico is part of the Ring of Fire. From Springfield you can view Two Buttes which is an old volcano. Two Buttes' Reservoir is a popular get away spot in Baca County. It is well known for the Black Hole, a spring-fed pond that is about 70 feet deep and is often used as a swimming hole. I also learned that there are many hog farms in the northern part of Baca County.
I toured Pritchett which was the scene for the movie High Low Country filmed about 10 years ago. Pritchett was started in the 1920s when there was a farming boom. Now the area around Pritchett is used for ranching. The only businesses in Pritchett are the Pritchett Café and the Blue Valley Trading Post. I also toured Pritchett's school which makes the fifth school in the county.
Week #7 Summary
During my week in Baca County I learned that grants are available for almost any project. I was very impressed by the amount of grant money that Baca County had received to do projects. I hope that many other rural communities take advantage of the grant money available. I enjoyed learning about each of the five different schools in the county. I benefited from learning that each of these small schools has the desire to stay alive and I enjoyed learning about the use of distance learning. I was also impressed by the opportunities for nature tourism.
The Campo Youth Advisory Council's many projects are very impressive especially knowing they are only beginning their second year. I was also amazed by the success of their first Youth Entrepreneur Fair.
Two Buttes formation in the distance | 
One of many paintings in Picture Canyon |
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Simone Cahoj breaks new ground with Ogallala Commons internship
By Mary Holle
Simone Cahoj carries herself with a confidence that is unusual in an 18 year old. Her volunteerism and extraordinary involvement in the community in which she lives began in her sophomore year at Rawlins County High School.
She was one of two high school students who attended a HomeTown Competitiveness academy with a group of seven adult community leaders in April, 2005.
The shy, soft-spoken young woman began to step out, get involved in more than just school events and became an advocate for bringing young people home...back to their roots and hometown.
Because of that passion, Simone was asked to be a guest speaker at last year's Ogallala Commons Fall Conference in Chadron, Neb. At that time, she began discussing the possibility of a summer intern position with Darryl Birkenfeld, Ogallala Commons director. Birkenfeld liked the idea so well, Simone said, he received funding through the CHS Foundation for not one, but two intern positions.
Ogallala Commons sponsored the HTC academy that Simone attended and has been providing Rawlins County with economic development assistance.
As Ogallala Commons is an organization that is a resource development network for the communities in the High Plains-Ogallala Aquifer region, that meant Simone would be involved in a lot of different rural areas with a common theme of trying to survive.
She worked and lived in six different communities in Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Colorado. She also toured Harding County, N.M.
"I started out in Atwood working with Chris Sramek [Rawlins County Economic Development Director] and worked two weeks," Simone said.
"Because I was their first intern, I was the guinea pig," she said with a little laugh. "I did whatever they asked me to do. I never knew what to expect."
When she went to Texas, she was joined by fellow intern Jayme Flores of Hart, Texas.
Simone said the internship, in addition to the physical work, was more of a summer learning experience.
Her 18-page journal contains seven weekly summaries and a day-by-day log of her adventures. It also contains photos of her working on different projects like helping inventory and sort food for the Oklahoma Food Cooperative, picking wild plums and making preserves to utilize natural resources, hanging up baby announcements in downtown Atwood and serving watermelon to a large crowd of July 4 revelers in Canadian, Texas.
In Canadian, she and Jayme served as parade judges. In Waynoka, Okla., they helped herd sheep.
"Herding sheep, I learned is a lot more difficult than herding cattle," Simone said. "If one sheep goes one way, the rest will definitely follow."
In Waynoka, Simone helped Ogallala Commons board member Kim Barker with Oklahoma Food Co-op sorting. Barker is also one of the founders of the food co-op.
"I was very excited to help on the food cooperative because Atwood and St. Francis are starting the High Plains Food Cooperative," she said.
But, the most exciting lesson she learned, she said, was that her hometown community was so much more advanced than the communities she visited.
"I was so proud of us," she grinned. "Darryl kept pointing out things that we had done as examples for the other communities to follow.
"And although Waynoka, is about the size of Atwood, they didn't have a bowling alley or a theater," Simone said, "We also attended an entrepreneur workshop in Texas. I was with a group of people from Tulia, Texas, which is about the size of Norton or bigger. They had had an Alco at one time, but a tornado took it.
"Instead of rebuilding it, they were too busy pointing fingers at each other to work together and replace it," she said. "It wasn't a welcoming place like home. I predict that the towns where you feel welcome are the towns that will survive.
"Those towns are really trying hard," Simone said. "Their downtowns are dead with boarded up windows. Our downtown is definitely more alive. We have nice sidewalks and open businesses."
"Simone was keenly interested [in the Ogallala Commons communities and projects], which is very important in an internship," Birkenfeld said about his "pioneer" intern. "She has really good people skills and documented what she learned. She was a good ambassador for Ogallala Commons and explained the commonwealths to help the communities see how to invest in their assets.
"She also gave those communities hope that young adults do have an interest in communities and rural America," he said.
Simone gleaned several ideas from the communities she visited that she would like to see implemented in Rawlins County.
A things-to-do-in-the-community list, which would be available to visitors, was one idea. Adding a people's choice and most creative awards to the Youth Entrepreneur Fair at the high school was another.
The one thing she found lacking in her hometown that those she had visited had, was a youth community involvement group.
"I know our kids are really busy and involved in school activities," Simone said, having 'been there and done that.' "But more involvement is such a benefit to them and the community."
Being so involved in the community opened doors and created multiple opportunities for her, she said, plus it added the benefit of being able to relate to adults better.
Simone will be attending the University of Kansas in a couple of weeks and plans to major in business management and leadership studies. Her internship with Ogallala Commons has lead her to consider a career in hospital administration.
Simone said her adventures this summer were memorable and fun. On one excursion with the economic director of Canadian, Texas, Simone was told, "The best way to support an entrepreneur is to buy something in their store," she related. "So we went shopping!"
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