Be honest, did you know that Mt. Lebanon has three summer interns? I didn’t know until about halfway through the summer! 

As my time with the public information office wrapped up, I wanted to share some of my experiences as an intern, as well as the experiences of two of my peers. 

Kelsey Erdely is an intern with the tax department and Sophia Caruso is a social work intern with the police department. All of us have spent the summer helping out the municipality in one way or another. 

Read about our experiences to see exactly what we’ve been up to, and if you’re a young person in Mt. Lebanon, please consider applying for an internship in the future! 

Kelsey Erdely: Tax Intern 

Kelsey Erdely, Lebanon Avenue, graduated from Mt. Lebanon High School in 2024 and served as the Mt. Lebanon tax intern this summer.  

Erdely is a Lebo native, having attended Washington Elementary and Mellon Middle schools. She currently attends James Madison University, where she is pursuing a dual degree in dance and integrated science and technology. 

Erdely began her internship with the tax department in June and has since become somewhat of an expert on auditing tax payments, her primary task in the role. She also assisted with front counter resident interactions (and may have even helped you with your taxes or a parking ticket).  

Working in Mt. Lebanon as a Lebo grad is of the ultimate convenience and reward. Erdely walked to work every day. “It’s nice to get to work for the community you grew up in,” she said. 

Throughout her internship, Erdely completed some important projects that directly impact residents. “I did a project looking at everyone who has a parking permit in the South Garage that we would need to accommodate during construction,” she explained. 

That’s right folks, the South Parking Garage will be changing drastically in the next few years. Erdely worked hard to make sure that anyone who needs accommodations during this time will get them. 

Despite her knack for this work, “taxes and finance are not something I want to do in the future,” said Erdely. She is, however, interested in sustainability consulting, and this internship gave her exposure and proximity to that as well. 

Erdely recalled meeting with Greg Wharton, Mt. Lebanon’s urban planning and sustainability coordinator. They took a look at possible buildings for solar panel placement and discussed how the budget works around that. 

“It’s really cool that Mt. Lebanon is looking into becoming more sustainable and that we have the privilege to do that,” said Erdely.  

Taxes are not always the most exciting thing. “Although the job can get a little mundane at times,” she said, “I just kept asking ‘do you need help?’ and ‘what can I do to help you not be so stressed?’”   

Erdely made sure to help out anywhere she could as budget season was approaching; the office was constantly busy.  

If you’re considering this internship in the future, Erdely reminds you: “You can be of so much help just doing the little tasks, and it made me feel good knowing I was helping the community.” 

Sophia Caruso: Social Work Intern 

Sophia Caruso, the police social work intern, grew up in Cranberry Township and currently lives downtown. She is in an accelerated graduate degree program at Chatham University, studying psychology.  

Caruso found Mt. Lebanon in sort of a funny way. During a cooking class, she met Ryan Jeroski, the Hampton Township Municipal Manager. He introduced her to their police social work program, where she began touring other programs in the area — this led Caruso to Mt. Lebanon. 

Last year, the Mt. Lebanon Police Department created a social services coordination position and hired Jaqui Stilson. “I hit it off with Jaqui and I really liked the community of Mt. Lebanon,” said Caruso. 

Police social work “is very much an up-and-coming field,” she said, “not every police department has a social worker.” Police social workers take care of the police with trainings and resources and take care of the public with mental health and other resources. 

Caruso works two days a week in Mt. Lebanon, and she has already extended her internship into next semester. As an intern, she primarily goes over social work cases with Stilson and helps out with some of the outreach events. 

A common case that Caruso and Stilson see is with older individuals and their families. Caruso recalled that people often call for wellness checks and senior resources for their older family members.  

Police social workers do a lot of community outreach to make sure that anybody who might need help knows help is there. The library recently hosted an “Operation Lego: Building Together!” event — a collaboration between Mt. Lebanon police officers and local kids. 

“The goal [of the event] is to get kids familiar with some of the police officers and make it more of an open discussion of what the police can do for you,” said Caruso.  

Caruso loves the fast-paced and community centered nature of police social work and can definitely see herself working in a similar role in the future. 

“I think a lot of people think you have to be in trouble with the police or go through the police to the point of needing help or resources, but that’s not the case.” In fact, “Jaqui goes and does library hours for anyone, and she answers all questions big and small,” said Caruso. 

You can read more about police social work in Mt. Lebanon here. 

Ella Magaw: PIO and Mt. Lebanon Magazine Intern 

All right, back to me! My name is Ella Magaw, and I’ve been the public information office and magazine intern this summer.  

Apologies if this is the third or fourth time you’re seeing my background spiel, but here it is again. I’m a Howe Elementary, Mellon Middle and Mt. Lebanon High School graduate. I’m currently a junior at Ohio State, studying public management, leadership and policy. I care very deeply about Mt. Lebanon, and I still consider it home.  

I’ve always been interested in government work, and my experience with the PIO has been nothing short of amazing. As a young intern, it’s often easy to feel unheard and ignored at work, but Mt. Lebanon did not let this happen. I came into the office everyday as an active part of the team, and I’m so grateful for that.  

The Mt. Lebanon Public Information office is responsible for communicating the municipality’s messages to the public. This includes (but is not limited to) social media posts, LeboAlerts, the 710 newsletter and, of course, the magazine.  

While here, I got to write more than 20 articles about members of the community, municipal news, new businesses and more. Stay tuned for those in upcoming issues of the magazine. 

This involved meeting some amazing Mt. Lebanon residents, attending Commission meetings and talking with the department heads here at the municipality.   

It has been such a privilege to learn from and give back to the community that raised me. I learned the ins and outs of government communications and journalistic writing, while also getting to try new things such as content creation. 

Mt. Lebanon has so much to offer, so please consider applying for any internship here, and I promise you won’t be disappointed!