Flatiron Interns Have A Busy 2013

Flatiron’s summer interns were very busy in 2013.

Interns from San Diego, Orange County and Los Angeles competed in the annual intern bridge-building competition in August.  Using only popsicle sticks and glue, interns built innovative mini-bridge structures and then tested their weight capacity.  The winning bridge, built by intern Zola Badral, held a whopping 125 pounds.  Second-place winner Ryan Smith’s structure held 124 pounds, and the third place bridge, built by Cameron Reid, held 115 pounds.  Congratulations to the bridge-building champions and all the competitors.

Summer interns in Oakland participated in a similar competition at the end of July.  Using only six toothpicks, four popsicle sticks and three dowels, the interns built bridges to withstand some extreme loads.  The winning bridge, built by intern Jimmy Quach, held 58 pounds.  Second-place winner Jesus Garcia’s structure held 49 pounds.

In Benicia, Flatiron’s interns documented their experiences on film as part of the annual Intern Film Festival.  The videos give behind-the-scenes – and sometimes a tongue-in-cheek – look at how the interns spent their summers with Flatiron.  Staff in Benicia viewed and voted for their favorites.  Calvin Joyce won the top prize, a $1,500 scholarship, and Jimmy Quach came in second and took home a $1,000 scholarship.  Check out all the videos on Flatiron’s YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/flatironconstruction.

Benicia interns also participated in the first ever Intern Rodeo.  Equipment donated by Holt Rental Store was brought into the Benicia yard and sent into three stations.  Interns had the challenge of operating a skid steer and rolling a pipe through a k-rail-lined course.  Other challenges included operating a forklift and picking up a basketball with a mini-excavator.  Rodeo winners were interns Chris Duty in first place, Calvin Joyce in second place and Steven Espinoza in third place.  All won Southwest Airlines gift cards.

In 2013, Canada hosted 25 interns who were stationed at projects in British Columbia and Alberta.  The interns are all students in engineering, business management and forestry from top schools in the provinces.  Interns were integrated onto the job and given major responsibilities and the opportunity to provide a real contribution to the day-to-day operations of their projects.

The Civil group had one intern this summer, University of Colorado Denver sophomore Jeff Madigan, who worked on a number of engineering projects.  Jeff was also an intern in the Firestone, Colo., office last summer, worked part-time during the school year and plans to stay on this year as well.  Most recently, Jeff helped a team design a trestle for a project in North Carolina that bid in September.

Congratulations to all the interns across Flatiron for their hard work!