Hi! I’m Hailie, an intern with Alberici, working on an SCR construction at a power plant in Ottumwa, Iowa. I just completed my junior year at Purdue University, where I’m majoring in Civil Engineering. I’m interested in Construction because it is an industry that has been around since ancient times, but continues to grow and evolve every day.
This is my first internship, so going into it I was very nervous, especially because I would have to relocate to Ottumwa for the summer. I didn’t know what to expect going into the intern orientation the first day, but I left feeling a lot less nervous, and a lot more excited to start. At orientation I got to meet my fellow interns and learn about each project they were being sent to. We learned about Alberici, its history, and its employees. Many of the employees who spoke to us had been there for over ten years, some over twenty. If people have stuck around with this company for that long, it must be a good place to work. By the end of the orientation we had learned about the company’s estimating process, safety policies, current projects, and had met over thirty employees. We also got a tour of the headquarters office, which is a LEED Platinum building. After orientation, about ten employees took us out to a fun dinner, where we got to know them a little bit better.
My first week at the plant was an exciting one. I got a tour of the construction site and the massive power plant, and learned how a coal-fired power plant operates. They began laying concrete my second day, so I got to see the testing process and watch them pour the concrete. I also sat in on safety meetings, change order meetings, daily update meetings, and a company-wide update meeting. It’s exciting to be able to see some of the things I’ve learned about in school being utilized at the site or talked about in the meetings. After my first day, some of the employees took me to dinner where I tried my first fried peanut-butter and jelly.