Two young Allen County natives are spending the year helping strengthen their home community through Thrive Allen County’s internship program. Jenna Miller, 23, and Henry Lohman, 22, — both graduates of Iola High School — are in the first leg of a nine-month internship that began Sept. 10 and will run through the end of May.
For Miller, the internship is a step toward her goal of becoming a therapist. Currently a student at the University of Kansas and applying to graduate programs, she wanted hands-on experience working with rural populations. “I want to help people and learn about the different struggles they face,” she said.
Lohman, who graduated from KU in May, said he has long admired the way Thrive supports local communities. “I think they create a lot of change in places that need it,” he said. He saw the internship as a chance to learn how to use community resources as well as find new resources to help better communities.
MUCH OF their work has centered on organizing and leading youth-focused community conversations with area students. The two have helped host discussions at Allen Community College and Iola High School. A conversation in Moran is scheduled for Dec. 3 from 9 to 10 a.m., with hopes to schedule one in Humboldt next.
“One of us is always in charge of leading the conversations,” Miller said, giving each a chance to practice how to conduct meetings.
Outside of community conversations, the interns have been involved in a wide range of Thrive efforts. Lohman contributed to the recent job fair and has been assisting his supervisor, Patrick Zirjacks, with a veteran suicide awareness and prevention grant. That work includes gathering surveys to provide data to the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services (KDADS).
Lohman is also starting his own project inspired by concerns raised during a conversation with residents in Mildred. He said the community felt there were not a lot of attractions to draw people in.
His solution? A sculpture garden built from welded scrap metal. “I recently found a grant that would fund some of that,” he said. Lohman has contacted the high school welding class and hopes the installation — ideally located near the Mildred Store — can be built by the end of the semester.
Miller is pursuing a grant to help fund a gardening club for local youth, noting the mental health benefits from the activity. She hopes to secure funding to work with about 15 students.
BOTH INTERNS also sit in on Rural Health Initiative meetings. Miller said hearing from local health leaders has been eye-opening. “It’s a world we never would have gotten to see without those conversations,” she said.
While Miller prepares for graduate school, Lohman is reconsidering his career path. He had planned to pursue therapy work but said his current job in the mental health field has left him “burned out.” Instead, he is now drawn to community-based work like Thrive’s. “It satisfies that need I’ve always had to help people,” he said, “but in a way that sort of lifts up the environment rather than the individual.”
As the internship continues, both interns hope to deepen their understanding of community needs.
“For me, it’s how to better support people in smaller communities and just help them with resources they may need,” Miller said.
Lohman echoed that focus. “I want to learn how to identify problems and enable communities to tackle them and grow,” he said. Creating more spaces for people of all ages to connect, he said, is essential — and it’s work he’s eager to continue.
