Kaylee Bynum

Hello! My name is Kaylee Bynum, and I am excited to introduce myself as the Rowan County Cooperative Extension intern for this summer. I grew up here in Rowan County, and graduated from Jesse C. Carson High School in 2022. Now I’m pursuing my bachelor’s at North Carolina State University, where I’ll be a senior in the fall. I’m also involved in on-campus organizations like my sorority, Pi Beta Phi, when I’m not in lectures or labs. In my free time, you can probably find me reading a good book, finding a new coffee shop to try, or listening to true crime podcasts.

My interests in food science include how foods affect health, what goes into the production and processing of the foods, and how science helps improve the quality and safety of the foods we eat. I also find how we can use food and nutrition science to help individual people to be very interesting.

Having the opportunity to positively impact the community was one of the reasons why I applied to this internship. Getting to work with N.C. Cooperative Extension gives me the perfect mix of my academic interests and helps fulfill my wanting to help give back to Rowan County. All of the different areas of Cooperative Extension that I will be learning about over the course of this summer work together to impact Rowan County in a positive way. I’m ready to learn about the important role that Cooperative Extension plays in helping our community.

Throughout this internship, I’ll be helping with many different areas of Cooperative Extension, like outreach events, cooking demos for the community, 4-H programs and more. I’m especially excited to work with the programs that help people make informed decisions about food and nutrition. One of my main goals is to learn how Extension educators communicate complex scientific information in ways that are engaging and accessible to Rowan County. Being that while earning my degree I take more lab-focused courses, I think it’s a great experience to be able to have real-life experiences.

While being a chance to grow professionally, I also see this internship as a chance to grow personally, also. I will have the opportunity to develop stronger communication and leadership skills, work closely with people from our community, and better understand the strengths and needs of Rowan County. I’m also looking forward to learning from the experienced staff here and contributing wherever I can.

I look forward to meeting you all and serving Rowan County this summer!