Another summer is coming to an end, and soon our Interns will be heading back to school. Before they wrap up their internship, we’ve asked them for a recap of what they learned and the skills they acquired during their hands-on experience with us this summer.

Juana Lucas, a Marketing major at Hastings College, will continue working for us part-time during the upcoming school year. This summer, her days were filled with photography, ad creation, ringing color samples, and sorting and shipping Chief swag and marketing brochures. Her biggest project, however, was creating a robust online building portfolio on our website. Her work can be viewed here – https://chiefbuildings.com/portfolio/photos/ . We look forward to Juana’s continued contributions to our small but mighty Marketing Department.

Matt Eschenbrenner, a Civil Engineering student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, is wrapping up his Engineering Internship this week. Some of his main tasks this summer were to help update the ASCE 7-22 Snow Loads, as well as updating various spreadsheets that Chief utilizes in calculations. One of his favorite projects this summer was updating the eyebrow canopy spreadsheet that allowed for customized tie-rod spacing, as it allowed him to think creatively to solve a problem. Matt came to us with the incredibly valuable soft skill of reaching out to experienced and knowledgeable experts for advice and direction. This will serve him well in his life and career.

Gavin Ruff, a Mechanical Engineering student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, spent most of his days working on projects which ranged from excel data sheets to sending out seamer orders. One of Gavin’s bigger projects for the summer was creating an excel sheet that would calculate the number of panels, girt clips, screws etc., while only requiring the user to input small amounts of information. This would allow the user to calculate the number of parts needed with ease. He has gained knowledge on how businesses and companies work together to complete an overall task, along with how to problem solve with all the little things that can pop up and complicate finishing the main goal. One of his most rewarding experiences was being able to see his projects used by others in the company. Overall, his experience and time at Chief has been a great success and he is looking forward to continuing his career at Chief next summer.

As a third-generation family business committed to community and education, we feel it is a privilege to spend our summers with young people in the beginning stages of their career and life journey. Juana, Matt, and Gavin, we hope we have given you valuable knowledge and experience in your chosen fields. Thank you for spending your summer with Chief Buildings!