THE JAMES A. FINNEGAN FELLOWSHIP FOUNDATION
PROUDLY PROVIDING SUMMER INTERNSHIPS FOR PENNSYLVANIA'S FUTURE LEADERS
Awards
$2,500.00 for the James A. Finnegan Award; additional individual $2,000 awards; honorable mentions as recommended. To receive the full monetary award, winners must accept and complete the required portions of the summer internship.
Placement in a named summer internship in state government.
Finnegan Interns also earn weekly salaries paid by state agencies during their state government employment.
The internships are named for the late James A. Finnegan and other men and women who have made important contributions to the "art of government" in Pennsylvania.
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For more information about our program, click here.
Eligibility
Undergraduate students who at the time of essay submissions, are attending accredited Pennsylvania colleges/universities and Pennsylvania residents attending accredited colleges/universities elsewhere, who have completed at least 1 semester, are eligible to apply.
Summer Experience
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Students should expect to serve an in-person internship generally in an agency under the Governor’s jurisdiction in Harrisburg, PA for a minimum of 8 weeks and a maximum of 10 weeks beginning on or about the last week of May 2025 and concluding on or about the last week in August 2025. In person internships should be planned. Unavailability to serve the internship will disqualify an applicant from the competition and related monetary awards, even if the applicant’s essay is noteworthy.
Selection
A panel of distinguished judges, under supervision of the Board of the Finnegan Foundation, chooses a number of winners. The judges consider a student's background, civic endeavors and career interests, and the designated written essay on a political science theme. Pandemic permitting, winners are announced in late march at a luncheon in the Governor's Residence.
Application Deadline
Application, together with attachments, must be electronically
transmitted no later than 11:59 PM on January 24, 2025 via email to FinneganEssayContest@gmail.com,
OR
mailed with a POSTMARK no later than January 24, 2025 to Kathy Speaker MacNett, Treasurer, 3401 North Front Street, P.O. Box 5950, Harrisburg, PA 17110.
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