As part of our ongoing relationship with George Westinghouse College Prep School, F.H. Paschen recently organized two events to involve students at Westinghouse who are interested in the construction industry.
May 5th, 2016
As part of our ongoing relationship with George Westinghouse College Prep School, F.H. Paschen recently organized two events to involve students at Westinghouse who are interested in the construction industry.
PASCHEN SCHOLARS
On April 26, F.H. Paschen kicked off our Paschen Scholars program. Students who participated represented the top 18% percent of the freshman class, and included those who expressed an interest in construction.
Twelve students participated in a group interview to determine how they worked together, then they were then given a chance to show their creativity and engineering abilities with raw materials—spaghetti and marshmallows—to construct a tower. Finally, Paschen conducted one-on-one interviews with the participants. Six students were chosen from this group, and will represent Westinghouse as Paschen Scholars.
The Scholars will participate in the three-year program, and will visit Paschen three times a week for 3 weeks in July, visiting job sites, doing intern work, and learning about the culture and the world of construction.
Special thanks to Antonia Winfrey, Tiffany Lomax, Jacob Kleiman, and Mary Kate Ward for helping conduct interviews and for help with coordinating this event.
WASHINGTON-WABASH CTA STATION SITE VISIT
On April 28, 2016, fifteen Westinghouse engineering students were invited to attend a site tour of the Washington/Wabash CTA Station construction site. Students were instructed on the correct use of safety gear and the importance of safety on a work site. Following an overview of the project by the Project Managers and Project Engineers, the students were led to the construction site to observe work being performed, and to learn about what happens at a jobsite.
Following the tour, the group returned to the site office, where they were treated to lunch, followed by a review of the plan grid and survey and surveillance images. During lunch, the project staff held a question-and-answer discussion outlining their experiences and how they came to work in the construction field.
Thanks to Washington-Wabash staff for participating in this event: Project Managers Antonia Winfrey, Josh Curran, Tiffany Lomax, and Frank Cassata; Project Engineers Rob Boss and Ross Hanchett, Senior Superintendent Ron Martin, Superintendent Dan Erickson, Project Engineer/Quality Control Courtney Wilson, and Virtual Construction Project Manager Christian Hubbard.
Comments by some of the student participants included:
“Today’s trip really opened my eyes to how much work really goes into a construction project. I had always wondered why it takes so long to simply break down the old structure and build [a new] one, but it is way more complicated than it looks. I think I have this perspective because I am going to be an Economics/Business Major and have never really acknowledged or took note of the numerous steps that engineering-related work accounts for. I think it is really interesting how there are hundreds of drawings and sketches that are designed for one sole project, and I really like how they are organized and managed [on the iPad app]. For the two construction managers that were inside the office, I thought it was really interesting that their field of study did not necessarily mean that they would do hands-on work for that field, but [they] instead branched into the management aspect of it.”–MARCO
“What I found interesting was the fact that Paschen has to work without stopping or shutting down the trains. They have to find ways to work around the trains, not to disturb it. Also if they delay in something they have to pay for it. Something I learned about engineering was that everyone has a different part while working together. Everyone is kind of their own boss and in charge of completing their task”.–GABY
“Something that really stood out to me was the amount of hours the engineers work! Not only that but the pressure they have with working around the CTA schedule, and if they delay the trains, they have to pay! The CTA asked for a renovation yet the engineers have to work around them. Also, the way in which they had to outline everything before the documentsharing application they have now [was so tedious]! Another important thing was that Paschen has to work from underground up—not even ground level—they had to go past that.”–MARICRUZ
“I learned that Paschen tests concrete using a powerful machine. The machine applies 6,000 pounds of force to a block of concrete. If the concrete doesn’t have the capability to take the pressure, it crumbles.”–MARQUIS
“Something that I thought was interesting was how deep Paschen had to go just to replace the columns. Also, it was interesting how they had to rent out the spaces and businesses so that they could put support beams [underground or around the construction site].”–KENYEA
“One surprising thing I learned about Engineering is that even if you go to school for a certain major, you may not [stay] in the exact field. I did not know what field of Engineering I wanted to go into, but now I know as long as I have an engineering degree, I could be anywhere in the field or designing.”–LAVONTA