Interns spending summer immersed in community

The local community is in for a special treat this summer as three college students and interns with Rural Prosperity Nebraska are working under the tutelage of co-leaders Tyler Pribbeno, Jo Leyland and Jill Moline.
“The three young men arrived here the end of May and will remain until early August as part of the Rural Fellows Program,” said Pribbeno.
The interns are Joel Kreifels of Nebraska City (population 7,300), Isaac Archuleta of Brainard (population 420) and Sebastian Sturner of Phoenix, Arizona (population 1.6 million).
“These three students are unique in not only their personalities, but their interests and ideas they can bring to the summer program,” Pribbeno said.
“Each one comes from a different background and size of community. After weeks of ‘saturation’ within our town, they will offer perspectives from someone on the outside looking in,” he continued.
Kreifels said they want to be a benefit to the community and help it prosper while working with Pribbeno.
“We are here to learn about rural communities and what makes them vibrant,” said Archuleta.
He said he was surprised at how busy downtown often was. There is usually some kind of activity.
“I was impressed by the variety and scale of businesses that seemed to be prospering. It will be important identifying the community’s strengths,” Archuleta said.
He added that there is room for growth and diversification, and he wants to be involved in the process.
“There are resources available to communities for this purpose,” he said.
Sturner said he wants to identify what makes a rural community stand out, and what would make people want to move here.
“I want to have the cultural experience of a small community and see local government function on a professional level,” Sturner said.
“One thing I am seeing from a small-town aspect is most people know each other by name as opposed to a large city where the hustle and bustle seems to make life fly by,” said Sturner.
Coming from a big city, Sturner said there isn’t much acknowledgment from people on the street.
“There’s more people driving and/or walking and busy watching traffic. You don’t often see people just waving or noticing you, at least not in a positive way,” he added wryly.
 Both Kreifels and Archuleta agreed with Sturner at how friendly people are here and how many waves they receive from total strangers.
“These three young men represent people like them who might want to relocate here in the future,” Pribbeno said.
Their insights of other places compared to here will help identify what the town is doing right and what Imperial can do to improve, he added.
“They have been jumping right in—immersing themselves while here,” he said.
Leyland, city clerk/administrator and co-leader,  said they were excited to have outside perspectives, different eyes to see, bringing new ideas and viewpoints.
“All three of them are willing and energetic to be involved and help us. We are delighted with them,” said Leyland.
Local business owner and third co-leader, Moline said she told them she was “like their mom” if they needed anything.
“I think the mixture the boys bring to the perspective will be good and provide good insights into what assets we may already have,” Moline said.
All three interns are very unique and different from each other, she said.
“The boys are very diverse—one is from a big city, another from a larger Nebraska town with the third from a very small town. They will bring much to our community,” Moline said.
All three said they are excited to be involved while here.
They have already gotten some experience being on two catering crews with Moline, and they volunteered at the theatre last Sunday when the theatre returned to a third night showing.
“I think we can keep them busy, and they will leave their mark here,” said Moline.
Interns go secret shopping
All last week, the three interns familiarized themselves with the town visiting many downtown establishments to get a feel for the community and meet some of the people, said Pribbeno.
This also gave them a chance to form some opinions about what improvements could be implemented, he added.
While hitting the streets of Imperial, they identified at least 15 projects for the community to possibly help grow businesses and expand business culture.
Along Broadway, a variety of areas were identified for potential improvements.
Sturner said he noticed it wasn’t always easy to tell if some businesses were open or closed.
“It’s important for people traveling through to readily see what is open and available. This gives a measure of business health,” he said.
Sturner thought that Broadway was a little non-descript—non-telling and in need of more beautification and ways to make businesses stand out.
He suggested adding more benches along the street for people to sit, visit and just enjoy being there.
Kreifels commented, from their perspective, that people passing through and stopping in were warmly welcomed and engaged in friendly small talk.
He also noted that he liked the connection of businesses tapping in on community specialties.
“For example, the town has a really nice skatepark (and a great story behind it). Adams Drug has an area of the store carrying skateboard items for sale,” said Kreifels.
“It’s nice for businesses to have their own identity yet expand into other items, and maybe it would spark an idea for other businesses to add a product presence that fits into the community,” he added.
 Kreifels and Archuleta both commented on the importance of a community having an online presence and the benefit it would give local businesses to provide purchases that stay in the U.S.
“I went onto Google search/maps to look up Imperial, and it is lacking in an online presence. There is no information to identify it or what it has to offer,” Archuleta said.
Trees and natural resource inventory and identifying needs is something Archuleta is particularly interested in.
He explained that more education on how to manage natural resources is invaluable.
“I like natural things that help communities like water run-off solutions, property carbon storage and how trees improve property value,” he added.
“I want something I do this summer to have a long term effect, even though it may be handed off, and I won’t necessarily see the end result,” he said.
Kreifels had a number of areas of interest that involved encouraging investors to help provide more affordable housing, a specified location for a farmers market—just ways to “put poles out in the water” to draw interest.
“Tough projects but very interesting,” he added.
“I enjoy the friendship and laughter, just like I’ve seen here—I really like it,” he added.
These young men will be volunteering in the community, and there is a list of ongoing projects that are being considered, said Pribbeno.
“I love the ideas these gentlemen are sharing from beautification to products to improve the quality of life here and to attract more people to our community,” he said.
 Pribbeno said he is super happy with the students and how they are familiarizing and immersing themselves with the city and people.
“I am very pleased. I encourage people to engage in conversation with these young men and share their ideas with them—don’t be shy,” Pribbeno said.
Personal future goals
Kreifels is finishing his fourth year at the University of Nebraska-Kearney majoring in criminal justice.
After receiving his Bachelor’s degree, Kreifels plans to pursue a Master’s in public administration with a goal of becoming a city manager.
“I want to get involved in local government, learning the ups and downs and become a part of the community,” Kreifels said.
 He wants to be able to hear all voices rather than just a few, forming solid connections.
Archuleta will be starting his fourth year in the fall at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.
He is majoring in business administration, and would like to eventually move to a small Nebraska community to be part of the citizenry—becoming deeply involved in the business side of the town.
“I want to be involved and have the opportunity to bring change and have my ideas heard,” said Archuleta.
Sturner will be starting his second year at UNL, majoring in business management.
Sturner is looking to the future as opening his own business, buying land, building a house, preferably outside the city limits, and becoming part of a community by interacting with people.
“I don’t know what size city I’d like to live in or the type of business yet,” he said.
Sturner’s interests seem to lean toward the importance of a community’s ability to get noticed for what it has to offer.