Hello! My name is Charles LeCuyer and I’m part of the B.L.U.E. Program at McKinstry’s headquarters in Seattle. I grew up here in Seattle and I’m currently attending The University of Washington’s School of Industrial and Systems Engineering.

In late 2016, I started to look for a great place to work this summer. Luckily, I didn’t have to look far! McKinstry is so prevalent in Seattle, and I’d heard excellent things from who’s ever worked for the company. Now that I’ve been working here for a few weeks, I can definitely say that those people were right!

I started my work as a project engineering intern about a month ago, and I’m based at an active jobsite: the under-construction Roosevelt Light Rail Station in Seattle’s Roosevelt neighborhood. I’m working with James Postma (senior project manager) and Katie Arendt (project engineer). They’ve helped show me the ropes, and I’m now handling a variety of tasks: Daily pre-task plans, safety walk inspections, man-hour reports, earned value tracking, and assisting with submittals.

Being new to the construction industry, I had almost no idea what it’d be like to work at an active jobsite. The best part of being here—besides the comfortable job trailer setup—is being able to simply walk outside and see the project come to fruition. I can look at a drawing or 3D rendering and then see the progress in-person.

The Roosevelt Light Rail Station is projected to be complete by 2021. Currently, we’re still laying all the piping on the invert slab and installing pipe where the platform level will be. Essentially, the station is still a big hole in the ground with millions of pounds of concrete being poured each week and pipes being run through each section. Here are some photos of the site:

The most challenging aspect of this project is organizing the gargantuan amount of work that all the contractors on-site must perform. We have a set schedule, but it’s difficult to know how much time each team needs or if tasks will proceed in the correct order. That puts a premium on efficiency, flexibility and being able to plan ahead.

Every day I find myself learning something new, and that keeps my job interesting. I’m always eager to experience whatever’s next! I feel fortunate to have this valuable of an internship while I’m still in college and I look forward to seeing the role McKinstry will play in my future.