Coming to college brings many changes and opportunities for young, eager freshmen. There are clubs, athletics and, of course, academics, which allow students to search for their niche on a diverse college campus like Penn State.

One program through the Undergraduate Student Government helps freshmen get acquainted with their new atmosphere.

"I was really involved in high school and it's a good way (to get involved) up here at Penn State," said Jennifer Wolford.

Wolford (freshman-biology) is one of 60 students who applied and was accepted for the USG freshman internship program, which will last for nine weeks during the Spring Semester. After the application and interview process, nine anxious freshmen will participate in the program.

The program consists of several different parts. One of the parts, Leaders Emerging Today, is not run by USG, but interns are required to participate in weekly seminars beginning in February. Another part is a mentorship by leaders in USG's three branches. The interns will learn about USG officials' jobs and daily duties during three-week rotations spent with various leaders. Three progress meetings will also be held to obtain feedback from the interns.

The program's goals are to promote long-term involvement, to teach leadership skills and to give an overview of student government. During the semester, six meetings will be held dealing with team building, problem solving and USG structure.

Steve Carrel, former USG executive member, thought of the idea last year with the help of former USG President Chris Saunders.

"I thought it was a good way to get freshmen involved and expand to other programs," Carrel said.

Josh Snyder (freshman-premedicine), another intern who is excited to be involved in USG, never participated in student government in high school.

"I'm excited especially since people say that Penn State students are pretty apathetic. I thought I would do my part to basically improve the University," Snyder said.

Nancy Cho and Bob Cole, assistant chiefs of staff for USG, organized the intern program with the help of the direction team. Ohio State University and Texas A&M instituted similar freshmen development programs within their student governments. They also modeled some ideas after the leadership development program that started last year.

Cho and Cole both said they think the interns will benefit from the program in the years to come.

"By getting involved early and by promoting long-term involvement in student government, we're actually planning for future," Cole said.