Practicum Reflection Essay - Whiting-Turner

From June 2022 to August 2022, I was an intern for the Whiting-Turner office in Newark, Delaware. I found this opportunity from a connection I had and received this internship after doing two rounds of online interviews. When I arrived at the office for my first day, I was given my job site placement and supervisor contact. From there, I contacted my supervisor and went to my specific site the days following. My practicum site was located in Elkton, Maryland at the Whiting-Turner job site, working on new facilities for Northrop Grumman. This internship was a fantastic experience for me to find out more about what I want to do in the future. I spent most of my time writing requests for information (RFIs) and submittals. I also tracked the progress of drywall and fire suppression system installation. This required me to go out into the field multiple times a day and look at what had been put up since the last walkthrough. Along with this, when new orders arrived I would check to ensure all measurements, colors, etc. aligned with the product that was supposed to be delivered. In addition, I attended daily meetings, communicated with subcontractors, and went to intern-specific workshops and events. If any future scholars are interested in a similar experience, I recommend applying for an internship with Whiting-Turner and going to career fairs to meet employees.

My site was specific to Northrop Grumman. At the time, Whiting-Turner was working on two main projects. Through this, I had the opportunity to learn about the structures and what needed to be included when working at a site like this. Because this site was specific to Northrop Grumman and their work with propulsion for hypersonic, missile defense, and space systems, I got to learn about how rockets are built and the precision that goes along with this work.

The main thing I learned from this work was what I want to do in the future. I learned that working as a superintendent out on the field may not be for me. However, I learned that I do really enjoy the office work. I also learned a lot about my strengths and weaknesses. I’m excellent with creativity and presenting. On the other hand, I need to work on taking initiative. From this, I also learned that I may want to go into something more environmentally focused. I found myself thinking about the environmental impacts this work was having. This led me to explore and change my major to environmental science and policy. Now, I am planning to pursue another internship with Whiting-Turner this summer. However, this opportunity is a part of their environmental group. This will allow me to explore further environmental career paths. I don’t know what I will end up doing in the future. However, I think I would like to do this environmental work.

In addition, this work gave me a new appreciation for how much precision and time needs to be put into a project like what we were working on. There were so many factors and pieces of the puzzle that had to be put together. Along with this, watching how everyone communicated fascinated me. There were dozens of subcontracting companies all working on something different to make a project come together. I enjoyed watching how everyone met, communicated, and worked with and around each other. This was such an amazing opportunity to have and I will forever be grateful for the chance Whiting-Turner has given me to explore career paths. I highly recommend any student who thinks they may be interested to give it a try. A career path does not have to be linear. This internship has allowed me to see that and become comfortable with the idea that my likes and dislikes will evolve and these opportunities are a way to find what I want to do in the future.

Last modified: 05 May 2023