Intern Update: Gabby Schannuth

Gabriela Schannuth

Civil Engineering, College of Health and Human Services

Bartlett & West - Engineering Intern

My internship allows me to understand the ins and outs of what it takes to design highways and intersections safely! Without the helpful guidance of my coworkers, life at Bartlett & West would not be the same!

My projects have started shifting more toward highway type design. I changed and updated labelling on intersections for detectors and lights and other miscellaneous tasks. This is not the most in-depth type of design, but it was interesting and very informative.

The past few weeks I have been focused on cost benefit analyses and quantity checks. While it still does not feel like very intense design, I need to recognize that I am still helping out in a big way and these processes are important. The guys I worked with are very helpful and explain what I need to do well. This really makes the difference for me. If I go into a project kind of knowing what to do, I will not work well. But with these projects, I have a clear outline of what I am looking for, a list of objects to find/quantify, and other resources to guide me through the process. I have left work both times with a sense of pride because I was productive and efficient the entire day.

I also feel very comfortable calling and asking questions to the guys I worked with while JD was out. Before, I remember being a little hesitant or nervous to call because they were new names to me. However, now my confidence has built up enough to where I contacted another person in a different office through Skype without any nervousness. Hurray for progress!