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Pharr honors summer interns; city describes program as pipeline to public service
Summary
Pharr recognized interns from its paid summer program, showing a video and hearing presentations from several students and staff. City leaders described the program as an investment in workforce development and community engagement.
Pharr commissioners on Tuesday called up students from the city's paid internship program to recognize their work and display a short video recap of the four-week placement.
City Manager Jonathan Flores, via the program video, said the internships were intended to introduce high school juniors, seniors and early-college students to city government: "We wanted to create a program for high school students and for college freshmen and sophomores that would be able to introduce them to city government," he said. City staff said interns were placed across multiple departments and took part in meetings, inspections, technology support and final presentations to city leadership.
Students who spoke during the program described hands-on tasks. An intern identified as Mariano said the IT placement included setting up computers, reconnecting printers and working as support across divisions: "We deal with a lot of stuff like setting up computers or resetting printers," Mariano said. Another intern, Ernesto, described accompanying building inspectors on site and learning how inspections are conducted.
Why it matters: City officials framed the paid program as a local workforce investment and an opportunity to broaden students' exposure to public-service careers. Several commissioners and directors congratulated the interns and encouraged them to pursue future leadership roles.
Numbers and clarifications: Staff remarks contained two counts: a city official spoke of a total of 24 interns at one point; the program's video described 22 interns placed across 10 to 11 departments. Meeting records did not reconcile the difference during the session.
Ending: The commission posed for a group photo with interns and directed city communications to publish photos and recaps on the Parks & Recreation pages.
