January 28, 2015
Edinboro University student Anna Berch-Norton attends The Harrisburg Internship Semester
Contact: Kevin Hensil, khensil@passhe.edu
Harrisburg – Anna Berch-Norton of Mt. Lebanon is working for the Pennsylvania Department of
Conservation and Natural Resources as part of a 15-week internship sponsored by Pennsylvania’s
State System of Higher Education.
Berch-Norton is a junior political science major and communications minor at Edinboro
University of Pennsylvania. She is one of 13 students participating in The Harrisburg
Internship Semester (THIS) program, which provides students the opportunity to work
in all areas of state government while earning a full semester’s worth of credits.
THIS invites students from each of the State System universities to participate.
Berch-Norton, the daughter of Neil Berch and Betsy Norton, is a 2012 graduate of Mt.
Lebanon High School. She and the other students participating in the program will
attend several academic seminars during their spring semester internship. Each of
the students also will complete an individualized research project as part of the
program’s requirements.
More than 600 students from the State System universities have participated in THIS
since the program began in 1989, each gaining valuable insight into the workings of
state government at the policy-making level. Interns have worked with dozens of state
agencies, as well as in the offices of the governor, the speaker of the House of Representatives
and the attorney general.
State System students interested in participating in THIS in a future semester may
obtain information on the program by contacting their individual campus coordinator
or their university’s cooperative or internship office, or by calling the Dixon University
Center at (717) 720-4089. More information on the program also is available at: www.passhe.edu/this.
Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education is the largest provider of higher
education in the Commonwealth, with about 110,000 students. The 14 State System universities
offer degree and certificate programs in more than 120 areas of study.
The universities are Bloomsburg, California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro,
Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock
and West Chester Universities of Pennsylvania. The universities also operate branch
campuses in Oil City (Clarion), Freeport and Punxsutawney (IUP) and Clearfield (Lock
Haven), and offer classes and programs at several regional centers, including the
Dixon University Center in Harrisburg and in Center City in Philadelphia.