Two construction management students who will start their Purdue careers this fall started racking up industry experience this summer as part of a new pre-freshmen internship experience.
Morgan Holladay of West Lafayette and Andrew Murphy of Chicago helped pilot the program, which was created by the School of Construction Management to provide exposure to the profession prior to college coursework.
"The faculty have noted an improvement in the students’ ability to relate to their construction management courses after exposure to the construction process in a real-word setting," said Mark Shaurette, associate professor of building construction management. "As a result, a team was formed to work toward improving the opportunity for students to obtain internship experiences much earlier in their construction management education."
Holladay was matched with F.A. Wilhelm Construction Co., which is working on improvements to the Purdue University Student Health Center. Murphy worked with Bulley & Andrews in Chicago.
The School of Construction Management requires its graduates to complete 800 hours of construction experience. Students typically start their experiences during the summer after their first year of studies. With the pre-freshmen experience, in addition to logging required hours earlier, students will be able to gain a realistic context of the industry, which they can apply to their first-year coursework in the construction management program.
The coordinating team for the experience will use feedback from the students and their hosts to expand the program for Summer 2016.