LINK is an internship experience provided to all Animas High School juniors, seniors who are interested, and other schools located in the Durango community. This takes place near the end of the second semester of Junior year, and is used to introduce high schoolers to the professional community to build and learn professional qualities, and to build personal relations within the community. Connection is everything in a world that is becoming progressively more focused on relationships than qualification. The internships are supposed to last three weeks, but often lead to something more such as a paid position.
What is Farm to Fingers?
I interned for a company called Farm to Fingers, which is a service that puts together grazing boxes made with natural and organic ingredients, partners with local resources like James Ranch, Honeyville, and Bread, and is focused on the future of sustainability. Alexis Saghie founded this company in early 2020, incorporating her values of a clean aesthetic and sustainability. A few simple ways she does these things are by including eco-tips whenever possible, and never uses plastic.
My Experience
When I started this, I wasn't too sold on the idea that people would really show enough interest to keep this business profitable, but learning about her marketing strategies, her target market, and why her company is special changed my mind very quickly. I became pretty interested in the aesthetic and the vision that she holds. I was able to complete initial tasks pretty easily and fast because I knew how to use the programs that she was asking me to. I also have a background in the food industry because my parents had owned a restaurant, and my dad has been involved in the cooking industry for 40+ years. Though I had some background, I also learned what steps are involved in marketing, and how to target a specific audience. Developing the marketing aspect was definitely difficult for me because I am not particularly interested in that line of work, but I want to become more passionate about it. Sometimes, the most challenging part is completing the work for me because I want it to be perfect, but that is not what it is always about. I am going to continue this internship into the summer, and after, hopefully procure a paid position. I believe that she would love to take on more interns in the future because the type of work I was doing was perfect for a responsible young person, and she knew how to include me without overwhelming me.
Career wise, I don't think that I would start a business like this, but I value the skills needed to run a small business. This is because I would like to someday start my own. I am not interested in culinary work or starting my own business yet. I believe that my interest in food should be kept as a hobby and wouldn't enjoy it anymore if I turned it into my whole life. However, learning the ins and outs of this was a valuable experience because it taught me how to act more responsible in the professional world and the gratification of creating my own work.
LINK Project
My project one the course of the three weeks was developing my own product for Farm to Fingers. Alexis will be able to sell it through her website as a special line. The first week was spent brainstorming and developing idea webs for a few different products. During the second week we talked a lot about what it would take to make my product, and decided between two major ideas. I decided on making a blood orange preserve, because I have never seen anything like that. We then discussed what other kind of special additions I could include, such as mint, lemon, rosemary, and basil. When I went to actually make the product, I discovered that blood oranges have gone out of season within the few weeks we were developing ideas. Creating this ended up taking two days, and wasn't very hard, but I did end up having to use regular navel oranges. I am still working on creating a nutrition label and a logo, but am excited for the future of this product line!