As Project Coordinator for Local Government Academy’s Municipal Intern Program, I have traveled across Allegheny County, Beaver County, and Mercer County to meet our interns firsthand (such as Grace Gealy, pictured above). These meetings allowed me to assess the intern’s progress, meet the supervisor and gain a more in-dept insight into their experiences.

A highlight of these visits was meeting Grace Gealy, the Multi-Municipal GIS intern for Aleppo Township and the Township Manager, Gwen Patterson. Grace is currently pursuing a Master of Science in Public Policy and Management at Carnegie Mellon University. Her project involves developing a comprehensive sign inventory across Aleppo Township, Kilbuck Township and Borough of Glen Osborne. The goal of the sign inventory was to develop the first complete list of signs across these communities.

Grace’s days have been filled with fieldwork, inputting data, and meeting with officials from all three municipalities. One day when she was walking on a dead-end road within Kilbuck Township, collecting sign data and sporting her bright orange safety vest, a deer ran right out in front her. Having seen very few deer up-close, this encounter was thrilling. The experience reminded her how much she appreciates being outdoors in her internship and seeing the local communities.

A single college course gave Grace all she knew about GIS. During the internship, she utilized this knowledge to develop her data collection. Zoom meetings between Grace and the three municipality’s managers and officials gave them the opportunity to coordinate and discuss the comprehensive sign inventory progress.

When Grace presented her completed GIS map, one Glen Osborne official emphasized how impressed she was to see a finished and thorough product that the municipalities could use for years to come. This was a huge accomplishment to be recognized for her creation of a detailed and reliable data collection.

The sign inventory is now complete. Next up is developing a ‘how-to’ guide for the sign inventory process which will allow future employees to understand how the data was collected. She also included her own suggestions on how the municipalities can enhance their sign procedures.

The last few weeks at her internship will be spent collecting information on Aleppo Township’s fire hydrants and coordinating with the water authority. This process entails Aleppo utilizing MS4 to configure the water data for code compliance.

Grace’s experience at Aleppo Township has helped her take the practical skills she learned in graduate school and apply them professionally. This real-world application has given her a glimpse into the future and how local government work can look. By utilizing her GIS skills, Grace was able to provide the municipalities with a comprehensive map inventory that will allow them to make more strategic sign purchases in the future.

Following her graduation from CMU, Grace’s plan includes spending a few more years in Pittsburgh and then hopefully moving to Washington, D.C. She credits the Municipal Intern Program for showing her the immense amount of opportunities in government work and can see herself eventually working at the federal level.

– Mary Romine, Project Coordinator, Local Government Academy