#22

My intern experience at PSI has been great! I have learned so much about the construction/developing field. I gained many valuable lessons from job sites, and learned how to resolve issues, and conflicts that arose. I gained confidence in talking to contractors and superintendents. I learned how to read construction plans and soils reports. PSI has given me great experience that I will take into my professional career. I came away from PSI with an ACI certificate more skills than I ever thought I would learn about the industry.  I am thankful for the friends I have made from PSI. I could not have asked for a better experience.  I really want to thank my boss Drew for giving me the opportunity, along with all the time he put in to educate me, and help me grow!

#21

My work day consisted of testing and sampling concrete at the City Scape apartments, and at the Longhorn Stake House. I started my first job at 7:00 at Longhorn Stake House. The concrete poor was for the footings that I approved the other day. I only had to take four samples because they were poring under 50 yards. I also had to check the temperature of the concrete, and verify the slump. After I cast the samples I left them in an ice chest on site o be picked up tomorrow.

My next poor was scheduled for 10:00 am at the City Scape apartments in downtown Phoenix. The poor for City Scape was a lot larger than the Longhorn job. The City Scape was poring 200 yards. I had to cast 16 samples. I took a sample every 5^th truck, but the it was not that bad because only 2 two yards were craned up at a time. I had a 40 minute break in between each sample, so I got to relax and enjoy the beautiful down town scenery. 

#20

My first job site was back at the Longhorn Stake House next to the Fiesta Mall. I arrived on site for a footing inspection, and utilities trench backfill density tests. The footing inspection consist of probing all of the footing bottoms and making sure they are in firm approved fill, and there are no lose soils. While I was probing I did find a problem area that was probing soft. My probe was sinking down about a foot and a half down. I had to talk to both the grading contractor and the superintendent on how to resolve the issue. We all agreed that the contractor would remove the loose soil until the bottom of footing is into firm/hard soils.  The contractor excavated down to firm soils while I tested one foot of utilities trench backfill. The trench backfill met the minimum percent compaction. After I verified the newly excavated footing bottom, I documented what happen and how it was resolved in my notes on my field notice paperwork. The footing situation was good experience for me on how to resolve a conflict on a job site

#19

My morning started off with a site meeting at the Fiesta mall where a proposed Longhorn Stake House is going to be built. I met with the grading contractor and the superintendent to go over the soils report. The site was previously compacted and consisted of approved engineered fill, so no excavation was needed for the building slab. The only thing that was required by the engineer was to observe and verify  one foot of scarification and compaction for the building pad. The top foot of the pad was ripped and water was added to the soil. The soil was then compacted. I took four density test for on the building pad. Probing and density test confirmed that the soil met a minimum 95% compaction.  After I finished up my paper work I was off to two other jobs to pick up concrete samples. One of those jobs is the City Scape apartments that are in downtown Phoenix. I’m sure you have seen the construction going on your way to ASU.  

#18

Another great weekend was in the books! It was a jammed packed weekend that was full of great moments. The weekend started out with a Diamondback baseball game. I met some friends that I have not seen in a while for a baseball game after work. It started out as a good game against the Rockies, but the game ended up getting away from the Diamondbacks. The game was still fun, even though we lost. After the game we all went down the street to this bar called The Duce. It was my first time going there, and it was such a fun place to go to! I highly recommend it to everyone! The next time you are down town for a game or a night out do your self a favor and check it out!

Saturday was the annual Salsa festival at Tempe Beach Park.  If you don’t know about the salsa festival, you really need to check it out next year! It is $10 to get in, and is a day all you can eat chips and salsa from over 50 different booths, live music, games and of course margaritas! I look forward to it every year and it never disappoints! Mark your calendar for next year and check it out! After the salsa festival all of my friends went back to my place for a pool party/BBQ. It was a great weekend to start off the coming summer months.

#17

My second career service event was extremely helpful and informative. I attended the urban planning mixer at ASU. The event consisted of a Q&A panel of five different urban planners. Three of the four planners worked for local cities in the Phoenix area and the other two planners worked in the private sector for private companies. The seminar also had over fifteen different companies and city tables in the back that were offering internships and even jobs. Their was a good student turn out that attended, about 40 or so. The mixer started off with an hour long Q&A with the five professional planners. The bulk of the questions were asked by the student host. The questions were very useful! For example, What is a typical day like as a planner, how did they end up as a planner and so on. Each planner took turns answering the questions, which was interesting because they were all in different departments, and came from different backgrounds. The Q&A also covered how to dress, interview, and overall job expectations. After the Q&A the student were free to eat and mingle in the back were job booths were set up. I walked around and handed out my resume, along with most other student. I spent time shaking hands and networking with future job opportunities. I really gained a significant amount of confidence by attending the mixer.