Harrisburg – Aleska Gonzalez of Allentown is working for the Office of Public Engagement in the Office of Attorney General as part of a 15-week internship sponsored by Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education.

Gonzalez is a senior public administration major, with minors in paralegal studies and political science, at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania. She is one of 12 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.

Gonzalez is the daughter of Jeanette and Miguel Gonzalez and a 2013 graduate of William Allen High School. She and the other students participating in the program also will attend several academic seminars during their spring semester internship. Each of the students 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 oversees 14 four-year public universities educating more than 90,000 students across the Commonwealth. The State System offers more than 2,300 degrees and certificates in more than 530 academic areas.