Life in Iowa's Homecoming Institute
In 2002, with funding from the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Life in Iowa established its Homecoming Institute. Internships and service projects arranged with "Homecoming" partners have focused on sustainable agriculture, food systems, environmental conservation and rural community development. Intern employers, who have provided matching funds, have been expected to go beyond routine supervision by serving as genuine mentors for their student employees. The activities of Life in Iowa's "Homecoming" interns were significant in two major ways: 1) they provided an invaluable learning experience for the students, and 2) the interns' activities generated considerable publicity for Life in Iowa, the Leopold Center, and the organizations that hired the interns. In addition, the intern employers benefited from the interns' ideas, labor, and energy, while the student interns developed hands-on skills and learned how a philosophy of economic, environmental and community sustainability is put into practice. With a clearer personal awareness of local and regional cultural life and ecosystems, Life in Iowa's "Homecoming" interns have gained the insight and experience to become thoughtful leaders and agents of change. Tom Ligouri Nancy Bevin
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