Tuesday, August 4, 2020

My Summer at the Economic Development Office

I started working at the Webster Area Development Corporation on April 15th, and this has been one of the greatest and most rewarding jobs I have ever had. Throughout this job, I have learned so much about my community and how to involve yourself with people around you. I never thought that I would meet half of the people I did, or even get closer to the people I had already known. 

I posted jobs on DayCountyJobs.com, pulled together the Wow Webster Gift Card Drive, and worked to help grow Day County. The Wow Webster Gift Card Drive has been the largest event that I have worked to put together, and it was so rewarding. I got closer with the owners of the businesses in town, and helped to raise $77,000 for our community. I never thought I could pull together an event like this, but it was so simple with the help of our community, the board, and Melissa. 

Kroll
Another event that took place this summer was Rural X 2020. Rural X 2020, is a conference for individuals to attend, providing ideas on how to build your community and your county. Even though I couldn’t attend this conference in person, it was still an amazing experience. I learned a lot about how to involve the youth upcoming into the community, how to promote events and organizations, and especially how to help your community during COVID-19. 

Over the rest of the summer, I attended virtual coffee meetings with other individuals from across the state, and we talked a lot about how we could improve connections with our community, and events we could throw for our community. I also attended board meetings, helped promote grants and loans, and advertised opportunities and spaces in Day County. 

These past few months, I  have learned so much about how together my community is.  I can’t thank everyone enough for being so supportive, and thank you to the board for giving me this opportunity! Melissa has shown me that our county has so many opportunities for everyone, and I can’t express how thankful I am to be given this opportunity. 

Emma Kroll