When the time came to declare her major at UC Berkeley, Project Engineer Intern Deanna Blanco knew she wanted to commit to a field that effected positive societal change—something with the power to genuinely improve people’s quality of life. After giving it some thought, the answer became clear: civil engineering.

“The idea of physically implementing something I conceptualized to benefit our society drew me to civil engineering and construction,” she says. “Interning with Webcor is a great opportunity to develop the skills I’ll need to be make that sort of impact one day.”

Deanna learned about Webcor’s internship program through returning PE intern Brenda Aguilar—one of her closest friends and a fellow civil engineering major at UC Berkeley.

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Brenda’s rewarding experience as a summer 2023 intern inspired Deanna to check out Webcor’s booth at UC Berkeley’s Civil & Environmental Engineering Career Fair, where she met Webcor Concrete Intern Managers Madison Hildenbrand (senior project engineer) and Robert Lim (senior project engineer).

They answered all of her questions about Webcor and its internship program with enthusiasm and encouragement, cementing her decision to move forward with the application process. She’d been searching for the right hands-on internship with a community-oriented architecture/engineering/construction (AEC) firm—Webcor seemed like the perfect fit.

In November, she officially accepted Webcor’s offer to join its 2024 summer intern cohort. She was eager to get started—and nervous.

“I don’t come from a construction background, so that was definitely nerve-wracking,” she says. “However, I’m excited to learn more about the construction field, specifically concrete, and broaden my education beyond the walls of a classroom or pages of a textbook!”

Fortunately for Deanna, her summer project has offered no shortage of learning opportunities and exciting challenges. At the Biosolids Digester Facilities Project (BDFP), she primarily oversees Building 615’s concrete pours, tracks materials for deliveries and returns, and works with the team’s craft professionals in the field, where she sees the team’s online designs come to life. That’s what she’s valued the most—the opportunity to connect with field professionals face-to-face, learn from their experiences, absorb their insights and advice, and ask them the countless questions that inevitably arise when working on a construction project for the first time.

“It’s been a privilege to learn from such a wide variety of workers who are experts in their trade, whether it’s placing formwork or pouring concrete,” Deanna says. “My construction knowledge has grown exponentially thanks to everyone I’ve worked with at BDFP!”

Deanna credits her exceptional team for helping her navigate the learning curve inherent in being not just a PE intern, but a PE intern lacking any sort of construction background. From the start, she’s been determined to support her PEs and superintendents as much as possible without allowing any nerves to prevent her from requesting guidance when needed.  

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That boldness to ask for help was put to the test when she was tasked with her first major challenge: overseeing her first concrete deck pour.

“When it was time to do my concrete take-off in Bluebeam, I initially struggled with visualizing what all the lines on the screen represented physically in the field within the building,” she says. “On the day of the pour, I explained the way I did my take-off to my superintendent, Gabe Zagorski, and admitted I wasn’t sure how to read the plans to calculate the value. Without hesitation, Gabe patiently showed me how to do a concrete take-off in live time with the excess area of the deck that hadn’t been poured yet. Thanks to Gabe’s hands-on lesson, I was able to fully visualize the lines on the screen as steps of different elevations, block-outs, or construction joints.”

It was a valuable learning experience that empowered Deanna to continue asking thoughtful questions and ignited her confidence in her ability to navigate unfamiliar construction methods.  She takes comfort in knowing this is just the beginning—countless lessons await her that will hone her practical skills and fuel her growth as an aspiring engineer.

“I can’t wait to one day bring designs to life,” she says. “In a world where we’re constantly looking for ways to improve, construction will be at the forefront of implementing new creative ideas. I hope to finish this internship with the knowledge to support the development of these types of projects.”

Deanna just wrapped up the first month of her summer at BDFP. Already, her knowledge of the construction world has skyrocketed.

One notable lesson she’s learned? The immense value of effective communication and collaboration.

“I’ve discovered just how important it is to communicate with everyone on your team, whether that means coordinating with MEP teams, the structural engineers, laborers, or project engineers,” Deanna observes. “As an intern, communicating my questions to my team in the office and field and articulating my ideas clearly are valuable skills that foster greater collaboration as we work toward our common goal.”

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When she’s not interning or working on school assignments, Deanna loves playing volleyball, watching movies, and exploring new places and cuisines. “I love being exposed to something I haven’t tried before!”

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An avid dancer, Deanna’s also done Ballet Folklorico, a traditional form of Mexican folk dancing, for nearly a decade.

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