Cranberry Township hosted 11 interns for its annual summer internship program. Submitted photo.

Cranberry Township’s Internship Program has steadily grown both in terms of popularity and success over its four years of existence.

The township welcomed 11 interns across 10 different departments and provided them with personalized experiences in the fields they hope to pursue one day from late May till the second week of August.

“Our goal is to leave them with a full experience of how local government operates,” said Holly Hopkins, a Human Resources Administrative Assistant who helps direct the program. “We want to give them a baseline understanding of the planning that goes into each department and a picture of how everything works together.”

Clayton Blucher, who served as the public works intern, said one of his friends recommended the program to him and he’s grateful for all that it provided.

“It was definitely a great experience,” said Blucher, a junior finance major at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. “It was really cool to see the background of Cranberry Township since I grew up there and lived there my whole life. It was cool to see how they deal with community days, the fair and seeing how they help with the community to make sure everything is safe.”

In addition to learning what each department encounters on a daily basis, each intern had the opportunity to work on more in-depth projects that spanned several months.

Blucher worked on a guide rail inspection project, while communications intern Anna Hezlep assisted in the promotion and execution of Cranberry Township Waterpark’s Christmas in July event.

“They hold a Christmas in July event, so I did a lot of the prep, planning and marketing for that,” said Hezlep, who will be a senior writing major at the University of Pittsburgh when classes start on Aug. 26. “I also worked on a handful of articles for the Cranberry Today magazine, which was really cool getting to see your writing in print and going through the process of identifying a story, interviewing people and laying out the road map for it.”

“It was a super valuable experience to me. It definitely opened up a lot of doors to me that I didn’t realize were possible.”

Along with human resources director Amie Courtney, Hopkins said she begins planning what the summer internships will feature in the fall the year prior.

The advertising is extensive and involves posts to the township’s website, informational announcements on social media platforms and flyers being handed out at colleges and universities.

In 2022, Cranberry received 68 applications. For this year’s installment, the township took in 93 applications.

“We just do our best to advertise where we can,” Hopkins added.

The interns typically consist of sophomore and juniors at various higher education institutions from across the region. This year, those schools included: Penn State, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Duquesne, Bucknell, Kent State, Pittsburgh, Butler County Community College, American Public University and Slippery Rock.

Those students received tours of the township facilities and listened to presentations from various local leaders. They also volunteered at events such as Seneca Valley School Volunteer Day and Cranberry Township Community Days.

“Everything about the program this year was exceptional,” said Hopkins. “We were very grateful to receive all positive feedback. All of our interns were just really incredible people. All of the directors in our various departments were incredibly supportive and welcomed all the interns with open arms.”

The township will begin accepting applications for the 2025 edition of the internship program in mid-January of next year.