West Mifflin Area High alumna Lois Ribich got the rare chance to put the White House on hold one day earlier this year.

	Steve Mellon/Post-Gazette
	Lois Ribich, a 2002 graduate of West Mifflin Area High School, holds a folder given to her during an internship this summer in the White House's office of presidential correspondence. She was chosen from 1,200 applicants and is one of 100 people each semester who achieve White House internships.

Last spring, Ribich, 20, got a telephone call from the White House just as she was leaving to take a final exam at the College of Wooster, where she is now a junior.

Weeks before, she had called up the White House's Web site, www.Whitehouse.gov, and read about an opportunity for internships.

She applied on a lark and was one of 100 people selected from among 1,200 applicants.

She was delighted to get the call, but it was first things first; so she said she'd get back to her White House caller after the test.

She aced the test, accepted the once-in-a-lifetime offer, and the rest is history, and a great line on her resume.

The South Hills resident, daughter of Kim Fedor, of West Mifflin, and David Ribich, of Alexandria, Va., served during the summer semester, which ran from mid-May to Aug. 13. The internship is not paid, and Ribich lived with her father, who works for the Navy, for the summer.

Among some of the highlights: Ribich saw President Bush arrive by helicopter at the White House and took part in a question-and-answer session with National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card and White House Senior Adviser Karl Rove.

Ribich remains impressed that officials took time from their meetings with world leaders to explain interns' duties and talk to them about international policy.

Ribich worked in the office of presidential correspondence's department of agency liaison, which builds hardship cases for constituents.

The department reviews letters requesting the president's help on such issues as housing and medical insurance, for example, a complaint about losing veterans benefits.

Officials write summaries for each letter specifying the agency to which the letter should be referred. Ribich's job was to help organize the summaries into a computerized database.

Ribich's favorite part about working in Washington was that "I could make a difference."

Ribich, a 2002 West Mifflin graduate, has a dual major in international relations and German, and says she would like to one day work for the U.S. Embassy in Germany.

But first she is applying for another internship in Washington, possibly with a local television channel.