Interview Day for Spring 2010 Interns

The Spring 2010 interns will be the 40th class to experience The Harrisburg Internship Semester. The new interns came to Harrisburg for interview day on Friday. During the morning, the interns were able to hear advice about the experience from the current interns. The new interns were told to relax and enjoy the day. They were offered advice on housing, networking, and interviewing. Each intern was then escorted around Harrisburg to their three interviews by a current THIS intern during the afternoon. The new interns will learn where they have been placed in the upcoming week.

Week 12 Seminar

At this week's seminar Assistant Director of Dixon University Center's Human Resources Department Janice Groff shared interview tips with the interns. Mrs. Groff offered advice on a variety of topics. Topics that were covered included: proper attire, typical interview questions, handshake types, and resume formatting. This advice was offered to prepare the current interns for mock interviews. In addition, the interns have been preparing for the upcoming Interview Day for the Spring 2010 THIS Interns.

PAR Conference held at Hilton

Pennsylvania Association of Resources for People with Autism and Intellectual Disabilities (PAR) held its annual conference November 17, 18, and 19 at the Harrisburg Hilton. The conference was entitled Stewardship in Action this year. At the conference attendees found:
- solutions and practical information that could be taken home to use;
- opportunities to communicate with state officials, PAR members and other experts;
- forums focused on community-based services and supports;
- interactive sessions on the initiatives and policy direction of the Office of Developmental Programs in the Department of Public Welfare (ODP/DPW), workforce development, expansion of community options, regulatory requirements and interpretations, leadership, research, promising practices, lobbying and advocacy, legal requirements, consumer and provider rights, and numerous other timely issues.

Stephanie Becker is the current THIS intern at PAR. She was integral to the organization of the conference. She helped write press releases and session summaries. Stephanie is a student of Edinboro University. Many current THIS interns served as room monitors during the conference.

Honoring SPC Ross McGinnis

A special ceremony for SPC Ross McGinnis was held in Harrisburg on November 9, 2009. SPC McGinnis' army decorations include the following: Medal of Honor, Silver Star, Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbon, and Combat Infantryman Badge. The ceremony marked the unveiling of a memorial stone placed in Soldier and Sailors Grove in his honor. State Representative Donna Oberlander was the Master of Ceremony for the event. In attendence were his parents, members of the Armed Forces, Mary Jo White and other members of the State House of Represenatives and Senate, among other special guests. For more information on SPC McGinnis visit the Army's Medal of Honor feature site.




The event was organized by THIS intern, Jessica Cosme. Jessica is a student of Slippery Rock University. She is an intern in the Office of the Speaker of the House.

Week 10 Seminar

Jonathan Johnson Senior Policy Analyst at the Center for Rural Pennsylvania spoke at this week's seminar. The Center for Rural Pennsylvania is a bipartisan, bicameral legislative agency. The Center for Rural Pennsylvania serves as a resource for rural policy within the general assembly. During the presentation, Mr. Johnson presented five little known facts about rural Pennsylvania. They were the following:
1. There is a rural PA
2. There are two rural PAs (east and west)
3. Rural is different than Urban
4. Rural does not equal agriculture
5. Rural residents like living in rural areas

Mr. Johnson also gave a "pop quiz" on facts about rural Pennsylvania. Through this quiz, the interns learned more facts about rural Pennsylvania. The following are some examples:
1. Two counties in PA have more cows than people. The counties are Bradford and Fulton.
2. The sun rose in Philadelphia at 6:32 AM. It rose at 6:56 AM in Erie, a difference of 24 minutes.
3. In rural Pennsylvania there are more nursing home beds than hospital beds (27,000 and 7,900 respectively).