On Deck: These Sundt Interns Are Future Heavy-Hitters

 |  Workforce Development

Intern Deck Project

Left to right: Matt Greenslade, MacKenzie Brock, Vanessa Lopez, Dorey Gorman, Codey Sayetsitty and Kyle Jones

The Sundt College Internship Program offers students unique learning opportunities while giving our clients real added value on the jobsite. Interns gain expertise not just in their individual roles but in several others across the project, collaborating and making big-picture connections along the way. This is probably why our internship program was voted by the interns themselves as one of Vault.com’s Best Internships in the country, alongside similar programs at top companies such as AFLAC, Boeing, and Home Depot. At Sundt, however, interns actually have the chance to get their hands dirty.

Speaking of which, one Arizona-based intern team recently completed a deck project for their client. The project involved building a 16-foot by 12-foot wooden deck on the back of the owner’s single-wide trailer, and included a safety and quality plan, materials list and estimate, and a man-loaded schedule.

The team was led by:

  • Project Manager MacKenzie Brock, Concrete Division Intern (Colorado State University)
  • Safety Professional Kyle Jones, Concrete Division Intern (Northern Arizona University)
  • Quality Manager Matthew Greenslade, Transportation Group Intern (Northern Arizona University)
  • Scheduler Cody Sayetsitty, Industrial Group Intern (Arizona State University)
  • General Foreman Dorey Gorman, Industrial Group Intern (Arizona State University)
  • Finisher/Carpenter Vanessa Lopez, Concrete Division Intern (Cal-Poly Pomona)

With an approved proposal in place, the interns conducted an interview with the owner to establish the conditions of satisfaction for the project.  In the process, the team was thrown a curveball:  they were given a change order to add a sunshade, which would make the deck usable year-round. This challenge, among many others—including stifling afternoon heat, could have led to slowdowns. But the interns used it as a chance to rally together and get the job done.

Through hard work and dedication, the team was able to successfully add the sunshade and keep the project on time and under budget. When finished, the entire project team and the owner held a Golden Shovel groundbreaking and closed out the project with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. During the ribbon cutting, the team was asked, “what was your biggest project takeaway?” MacKenzie and the team replied, “Things never go as planned.”

Both Sundt and the client are lucky to have a solid team of interns who delivered a successful project with added value.

To learn more about the Sundt Internship Program, contact internships@sundt.com.