For Project Engineer (PE) Intern Clarisa Granados, civil engineering is more than just a major—it’s a lifelong passion near to her heart, deeply engrained in her childhood memories.

“My dad’s a civil engineer,” she says. “When I was a kid, he’d bring me to his job sites, where I’d see the bridges he was currently working on. When it was time to pick my major, I knew I wanted to follow in his footsteps.”

Before enrolling in UCLA’s civil engineering program, her construction experience was limited to general contracting, which was fine with her—she knew her future laid in that area. She excelled on the GC side and had no plans to shift away from it.

All that changed last year, when she took her first concrete design class at UCLA. To her surprise, she not only enjoyed it, but excelled at it. For the first time, she found herself gravitating toward another facet of the construction world—one she knew she’d continue exploring long after the concrete design class ended.

That semester, she attended UCLA’s American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Career Fair in hopes of finding an internship opportunity that would offer her the hands-on concrete experience she craved. Once there, she spotted a large banner from Webcor—a company of which she’d heard but knew very little.

Intrigued, she approached the attending Webcor recruiters and asked what the company specialized in. She was thrilled to learn internships were available with their self-perform groups, including Webcor Concrete.

“I was used to being on the contractor side of a project, so I jumped on the chance to do something fresh and new with Webcor Concrete,” she says. “Working on the self-perform side has definitely been more hands-on and exciting than the general contractor side.”

Although she could see herself eventually returning to general contracting work, she’s appreciated the opportunity to diversify her experience and immerse herself in a new side of construction. The better she understands the differing perspectives of a general contractor and self-perform group on a project, the more well-rounded of a builder she’ll become.  

“Before this internship, I would have said I wanted to be on the general contractor side no matter what,” she says. “Now that I’m well into my internship, though, I have a hard time choosing. I’ve had a lot of fun on this project and learned so much.”

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This summer, Clarisa’s interning at the UCI Mesa Court Housing project in Irvine—her first internship outside her Bay Area hometown. After two summer internships in San Francisco, she decided it was time to try interning somewhere new and start figuring out where she wants to live and work once she graduates next year.

She’s also hoping to adopt new skills ranging from the technical, such as Revit, to the soft, such as self-confidence. Although she’s enthusiastically jumped on the opportunity to take on new challenges such as concrete takeoffs, quality control, and concrete pours, she’s done it while battling bouts of self-doubt.

“I’m still skeptical of myself, so I often check with my managers,” she says. “But after three summers of working in construction, I truly believe I’m almost there. Learning from so many great people at my internships over the years has been really meaningful and rewarding. I always love meeting new colleagues who often become friends.”

Clarisa looks forward to visiting her friends and family in San Francisco later this summer—the time of year she usually sees them after months of being away at UCLA. Although the distance is tough, she loves a few things about LA; namely, the city’s beautiful weather, as she loves the outdoors. Whether she’s playing tennis, kicking a soccer ball, roller-skating, or reading, you can find her spending as much time outside as possible.

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