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JCMGA 2026 Practicum Mentors Needed

By September 1, 2025Beet 2025 09 September
Barbara Low
Latest posts by Barbara Low (see all)

Nicole Smith and I are the leaders of the JCMGA Practicum, and we are excited about being a part of the upcoming JCMGA 2026 Practicum. We need new mentors! New mentors will be paired with an experienced mentor, and training will be provided for each Practicum lesson. We are here to support all of our mentors and Master Gardener students.

We are among the very few Master Gardener programs in Oregon that offer a Practicum. The Practicum gives a unique opportunity to have enough hours of practice for students to feel confident that they deserve to be called a Master Gardener when they graduate from the Master Gardener and Practicum programs. The Practicum is focused on home gardening and includes a variety of lessons which are designed to help students become more effective gardeners.

What is the time commitment?

  • September 17: kickoff meeting for Practicum 2026
  • October TBA: Practicum Teams begin meeting once a month. The four teams are Seed, Greenhouse Maintenance, Native Plants, and Curriculum. You choose the team you want to be a part of!
  • December TBA: 2-3 afternoons to clean and prepare the greenhouses for the upcoming Practicum.
  • January 7: 2026 Practicum Training Meeting
  • January 28-Mid-May: Weekly Wednesday Mentor meetings are held to review the upcoming week’s Practicum lesson and provide any necessary updates.
  • January 29-Mid-May: Practicum for students begins.

o You would be working with one group of Practicum students once a week

I have found this to be a very meaningful and wonderful experience. We look forward to expanding our team of knowledgeable, caring, and supportive individuals

 

Jackson County Master Gardener™ Practicum (MGP)

Mentor Expectations

  1. Attitudes
  2. Willingness to share gardening knowledge in a pleasant and friendly way
  3. Understanding that there is always more than one way to ​accomplish a task, with a recognition that consistency is needed between MGP sessions
  4. Respect for students as educated adults who often know more about gardening than we do
  5. Ability to treat students with kindness, dignity, and respect at all times
  6. Willingness to have open-minded discussions of practices and procedures during mentor meetings without making personal attacks or taking the discussions personally
  7. Willingness to check email daily and respond promptly when needed
  8. Requirements
  9. Graduated of the Master Gardener Program
  10. Completed the optional Practicum
  11. Certified or re-certified Master Gardener
  12. Member of JCMGA (membership renewed and annual dues paid)
  13. Meetings/ Work Days
  14. Attending meetings, training, and workdays September-January (may be canceled if necessary)
  15. Attending Wednesday meetings when MGP is in session to review the lesson for the week and discuss any issues that have come up during the week (~2 hrs each week)
  16. Helping with Wednesday care of plants and any other needed tasks that arise (time required is dependent upon the number of plants and the weather)
  17. Helping on additional workdays as needed (time required dependent upon task)
  18. Working with Students ~4 hrs/wk
  19. Working with co-mentors to facilitate weekly meetings with students ~3.5 hrs/wk
  20. Sharing responsibilities with co-mentors for teaching, supervising student activities, maintaining records, cleanup, etc.
  21. Meeting weekly with co-mentors to plan & assign week’s activities ~30 min/wk
  22. Working with co-mentors to assure that all tasks are accomplished each week ~30 min/wk
  23. Reviewing all documents and videos on the website and/or handouts in class (time varies each week)
  24. Coming to your weekly session prepared to teach (time varies each week)
  25. Sharing the Load
  26. Joining one or more Practicum teams (Curriculum Team, Seed Team, Greenhouse Maintenance Team, Native Plants Nursery Team) to work on items that are needed for the Practicum to run.
  27. Sharing one-time and on-going tasks required to keep the MGP running smoothly
  28. Participating in the Spring Garden Fair and/or the MGP After Sale
  29. Sharing the joys of being a mentor
  30. The Mentor Attitude
  31. Camaraderie with other mentors
  32. Continued learning
  33. Opportunity to give back to the community
  34. Sense of satisfaction
  35. FUN!

We hope that you will seriously consider joining our team!

Contact me at barbarlow@msn.com if you have any questions and if you would be interested

in joining our Practicum Mentor Team.