INDIANAPOLIS — Three college seniors hailing from Hendricks County have been busy working as interns at the Indiana State Fair for the past several months.

Joanna Spaulding of Avon, and Stephanie Jones and Lauren Calleo of Brownsburg all applied and were accepted into the educational department’s internship program, and have been mainly focusing on a new aspect of the fair this year, The Wonder Trail. As part of their work, they have each been researching and developing lesson plans for three stops along the trail.

The Wonder Trail is an interactive adventure that takes children and their parents exploring the entire fair. In all, the trail contains 16 stops, all providing interactive and educational information about Indiana agriculture.

Children and their families can register for The Wonder Trail, and those who do will receive a trail kit, which includes a souvenir lanyard, a 3-D illustrated trail map, and a magnifying glass. They can sign up at any of the three check-in locations throughout the trail, either at the information booth across from the Cattle Bran, the Riley Fun Park Clubhouse, or the Barn Van parked by the Midway.

“We’re trying to get people to places and things around the fairgrounds they may not otherwise have seen,” Jones said. “We’re trying to educate children in the different barns and exhibits.”

Jones attends Hanover College and has a double major in communication and elementary education. She said she learned about the intern program through the career connections program at her school. She is in charge of the Pioneer Village, Livestock Nursery, and Clarian Healthy Lifestyles Pavilion stops along The Wonder Trail.

Jones has been involved in other aspects throughout her internship as well, including giving tours at the Traders Point Creamery, organizing the home school meet and greet, and creating three Wonder Trail commercials to air on WFYI, the local PBS TV station.

“The most rewarding part is getting to see what takes place behind the scenes in an organization of this caliber, and seeing it all come together,” she said.

Calleo is an elementary education major at Valparaiso University, and has been friends with Jones for several years. The three Wonder Trail stops she is responsible for include the Cattle Barn, the Agriculture/Horticulture building, and the Department of Natural Resources Complex.

In addition to The Wonder Trail, Calleo has been researching bio-diesel fuels, and various ways to use the leftover fair food grease at the end of the fair. She has also been giving tours at the Traders Point Creamery.

For Calleo, she said the best part of her internship experience has been at the beginning when everyone was heavily involved in their research.

“My favorite part has been getting back to the child-like state of mind with curiosity and learning something about a cow, and that sparking my interest to ask another question, which is exactly what we want the children who come to the fair to do,” she said.

Spaulding is studying at Indiana State University, majoring in elementary education and special education. She said one of her friends recommended the internship program. The three stops on The Wonder Trail she’s responsible for are the Saddle Horse Barn, the 4-H complex, and the Pioneer Our Land Pavilion.

“Everything is great,” she said about her experience. “I’ve learned so much about agriculture that I’ve never even thought about before.”

The Indiana State Fair starts today and runs through Aug. 19. For more information about The Wonder Trail and for pre/post-visit activities, visit the website at www.thebarn.in.gov and click on Educational Programming.



lindsay.jones@flyergroup.com