Update: Read a review of my PLCA internship experience here.
IT WAS EARLY MARCH that I applied for a summer internship covering the Harrisburg, Pa. statehouse for a handful of urban dailies.
The internship is with the Pennsylvania Legislative Correspondents’ Association*, the oldest continuously operating journalism society in the country.
Well, after an interview in Harrisburg three weeks ago, I am happy to report that I was offered the gig on Monday and accepted it yesterday.
It is a 12-week program paying $500 a week. Interns spend two- or three-week rotations writing for The Philadelphia Inquirer (350,000 circulation) Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (214,000 circulation) Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, The Morning Call (Allentown, Pa., 109,000 circulation)) and The Patriot-News in Harrisburg.
It is an opportunity to cover and learn a great deal about the state government, while not facing the permanence I am not convinced I should undertake at my young age and in my relatively privileged state. So, come September I will be free to do some traveling, after proving to a potential employer that I was able to get a position right after graduation.
Indeed, this has been a week of big announcements, starting with my being named Temple’s commencement speaker here in the last week of my college career.
*Amended 9/6/08 4:32 P.M.
