Meet Our New RARE Member!
Please help us welcome our new RARE member, Emily Wingard, to South Wasco Alliance & to South Wasco County! In case you missed it: RARE stands for Resource Assistance for Rural Environments, and the program matches rural communities with enthusiastic members who are able to build local capacity and advance needed projects in the area. South Wasco Alliance was awarded a grant from the Oregon Community Foundation to help fund the RARE postion. Emily will start her service in September, so in the meantime, we asked Emily to introduce herself to the community. Please read for Emily’s note to everyone in South Wasco!
I am thrilled to be a part of the RARE project for this upcoming year and cannot wait to get to know my new community. I am looking forward to learning about all of you and I hope this introduction helps you to learn about me!
I grew up in New Haven County in Connecticut where I spent most of my time outside school playing sports and traveling with my family. I grew up with pets and surrounded by horse farms, which sparked an interest in animals and agriculture. This led me to leave my town for high school to attend a school with an agriscience program in a more rural part of the state. I enjoyed learning about the industry and working with the animals, but I was surprised to find throughout high school that my interests were more focused in my classes about government and history. Choosing to lean into this new interest, I chose my major to be political science when I applied for colleges in the fall of my senior year. After graduating high school in 2017, I attended the University of Vermont to study political science and later on also psychology. As someone with a love for nature and whose hobbies are somewhat dependent on access to the outdoors, I had fallen in love with Vermont’s scenery and abundance of outdoor recreation.
I spent my time in college as most students do, studying, joining clubs, and working to earn money for my education. My club of choice was rugby, and despite the countless bruises and sore muscles I still claim it as the best decision I made in my four years at UVM. Rugby, as exciting as it was, took up most of my free time while in college. I ended up working jobs with flexible hours to fit around my practice schedule during the school year, which included jobs in the food industry and in retail. By the summer entering my junior year I was ready to try a different sort of position, so I took a job as an intern at Champlain Valley Head Start in downtown Burlington. This internship opened my eyes to the world of policy and it pushed me down the path I am following now.
I graduated from UVM with a dual degree in political science and psychology in January of 2021 and immediately began working on my application for RARE after hearing about it from a family member living in Oregon. I was drawn to RARE because of its goal to improve conditions in rural areas and to provide both individuals and the community as a whole with the tools they need to be successful. I am passionate about helping people build a community that they are proud to be a part of and that allows them to do the things that bring them joy, and I cannot wait to get started working with the South Wasco Alliance and becoming a part of the community. I look forward to meeting you all soon!
-Emily Wingard
