Attracting summer engineering interns to the world of public works can be challenging. What they are exposed to in engineering school does t tell the full story of what they could have an impact on—mainly their local communities. Working on an engineering team, interns get exposed to one side of a project each summer. But what if we can do more? What if we can show the project from other angles during a single internship? What if we can create a program that provides insights into how public and private organizations work together to get projects done? BHC teamed up with two local public works departments in the Kansas City metro area to enhance our respective public and private intern programs by providing a rotation that involves municipalities, contractors, and civil consultants (AEC), giving interns a 360-degree view of civil projects. With the company they work for, they assist full-time staff and do daily tasks while taking some time out of their summer to learn the other sides’ perspectives. Throughout the summer, interns in the AEC collaborative will spend a day in a “rotation” with each of the other organizations. They get to build relationships and see how project workflows are treated differently by each AEC sector for the same type of project. This also provides unique opportunities for interns, giving the internship program more candidates to choose from and potentially better options for recruiting full-time staff post-graduation. After this session, participants will be able to:
• Structure a more engaging program for interns and enhance their kwledge of how the AEC community comes together to complete public works projects.
• Improve their mentoring skills for summer interns.
• Track the success of their intern program.

Contributor/Source

Adam Hilgedick

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