Taking Over the Construction Industry: One Female Engineer At a Time - Abby Kreider

I’m sure you have all looked across the skyline of any city and seen a tower crane.  A good sign of a booming construction economy, these cranes symbolize the lifeblood of my future career as a construction engineer.  I am a senior in the Architectural Engineering major at Penn State University with a concentration in the Construction Management option and I manage construction sites like the one lying under these cranes you see on a daily basis.

In the summer after my junior year, I interned with Barton Malow Company as a Project Engineer in Richmond, VA on a emergency department renovation at the Virginia Commonwealth University’s teaching hospital. The job was a four phase project that is currently taking place while having the emergency room operational at full capacity and was essentially a logistical nightmare.  The only entrance to our site was in the same small alley way in which the ambulances brought patients to the emergency room as you can see in the picture below.

These logistical challenges, although annoying and difficult, ended up being a positive learning experience and added to the many positive take-aways that I have from this summer.   It is important to throw yourself into any and all challenges in an internship.  How many times in your life will you be able to go and work somewhere for 3 months just to gain experience?  Internships are great opportunities and I highly recommend taking advantage of any and all opportunities.  What have you got to lose?  If nothing else, you will learn that is something you didn’t want to do and you can check it off of your list!

Another important point about internship experience is forming relationships and getting involved outside of the actual internship.  While in Richmond for the summer, not only did I establish working relationships but also personal friendships as well.  Below is a picture of a Habitat for Humanity build we did with some of the other interns as well as the young professionals we worked with.  We did several group activities throughout the summer within the company but also outside.  The internship is what you make it so enjoy your summer of learning and growing!  Put yourself out there!