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David Jensen is glad INLINE Commercial Construction Inc. took to heart Portland Community College‘s suggestion to make a new library conductive to learning before it’s complete.

The Aloha-based contractor hired Jensen in April as a PCC student intern on the $10.5 million Learning Commons project at the college’s Southeast Center on Southeast 82^nd Avenue.

“It’s a really cool thing to have these companies available for internships,” he said. “You get a perspective for what it takes to actually run a job.”

Jensen, who graduated from PCC in June with an associate’s degree in construction management, continues to intern on the project with the prospect of INLINE hiring him on permanently. He joins other construction students and recent graduates who’ve benefited from paid internship opportunities offered by contractors working on projects throughout the PCC system funded by a $374 million bond.

INLINE has gained just as much from PCC’s internship program, INLINE project manager Eric Ross said. Jensen has provided valuable assistance ensuring the Learning Commons building will meet stringent Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design standards, he said.

“It was nice that (PCC) was able to offer us the students and offer students the opportunity to work on PCC projects,” Ross said. “It’s a real boon in internships.”

One aim of the PCC bond, passed in 2008, was to provide student internships during the construction of new campus buildings, said Gina Whitehill-Baziuk, who manages stakeholder engagement for the bond program.

“Once the building is built, the actual components that went into building it are gone,” she said. “Learning from the ground up is really important.”

MAKING OPPORTUNITY HAPPEN

PCC didn’t require that contractors hire student interns while working on bond projects, but the college expressed a strong desire that they do so, Whitehill-Baziuk said. As a result, every successful contractor bid outlined how they would use interns, she said.

“All of them responded that they would seek to create those opportunities and that they understood that was important to the college,” Whitehill-Baziuk said.

PCC construction students are required to complete 90 hours of work experience and the college is always seeking more contractors that are willing to host interns, said Nancy Pitzer, the coordinator of student employment and cooperative education at PCC’s Rock Creek Campus. When the bond passed, it made sense to glean internships out of the projects, she said.

“It’s a prime opportunity for our students to apply what they’ve learned in a work environment,” Pitzer said. “It’s great that we have these locations here on campus.”

Rob Fallow, a project manager with Portland-based Fortis Construction Inc., said the contractor didn’t think twice about offering to hire interns. Fortis, which is overseeing building renovations and upgrades to the Rock Creek Campus, has hired two interns from the college’s building construction technology program and plans to hire more, he said.

“It’s just a natural fit,” Fallow said. “A school is investing a substantial amount of money and the return that they get shouldn’t just be their building.”

Interns are also a good investment for Fortis, especially for finding new employees, he said.

“We’ve had a very strong internship program,” Fallow said. “It’s definitely important to us in a number of ways. It’s smart to get to know people and get them to know us. It’s a great recruitment tool.”

Jeff Ganz, project executive with Howard S. Wright, said the Portland-based contractor hired three construction management interns from PCC last year while making improvements to the college’s Sylvania Campus and had two interns this year, he said.

“We’re so busy in the summer, they just give us a breath of fresh air,” Ganz said. “They’re a welcome help for us. There’s always stuff to get done and followed up on, and they help us very much.

“It’s just nice to have young, smart people around.”

Before interning for INLINE, Jensen mostly had residential construction experience. He said it’s been interesting learning about working on a larger scale project like the three-story, 40,000-square-foot Learning Commons, which will contain a library, classrooms and a community resource center.

The internship is also his first chance to work on the administrative side of a construction job.

“It’s a different aspect, working through all the paperwork versus going out and putting up concrete and playing in the field,” he said.

DIFFERENCE IN THE DETAILS

Construction of the Learning Commons started in January and the building is set to open next spring, Ross said.

The project is aimed for LEED gold certification, with sustainable features that include an automatic ventilation system and windows and extensive use of natural light.

One of Jensen’s main responsibilities was keeping careful records and coordinating with subcontractors to track that the project was meeting the requirements for the LEED certification, Ross said. This included making sure that building materials came from local manufacturers and that the majority of the waste produced by the project was recycled.

“It’s just a lot of detail,” Ross said. “He built this huge spreadsheet with everything we have to track, every subcontractor.”

He said he was impressed with the knowledge Jensen gained at PCC.

“I think the training he got at PCC, the technical training, has helped him,” Ross said. “The skill set he came in with really helped him excel.”

Gaining familiarity with LEED will be a valuable asset to Jensen’s resume, Ross said.

“LEED being a big piece in the industry, he’s really diving into the detail and learning what it takes to be locally sourced,” Ross said. “I think it will really help him in his future career.”

Jensen said he didn’t realize how much goes into achieving the certification.

“When you get into it, you learn there’s a lot more to it,” he said. “It’s making sure you don’t miss anything. I think the hardest thing is making sure you don’t miss any detail.”

Although it’s been challenging, Jensen said he’s glad INLINE trusted him to take on the task.

“It’s part of the process,” he said. “You don’t get to take baby steps. You’ve got to get in there and do it.”