While managing check-ins at this year’s ASC Regions 6&7 student competition in Reno, Project Engineer (PE) Intern Phoebe Follette (they/them pronouns) couldn’t stop running into Webcorians—especially HR Coordinator Dante Robinson and (former) Assistant Project Manager Kristin Paulazzo. Eventually, they decided to introduce themself to Dante, who was immediately impressed with Phoebe’s confident, professional attitude.

“When we go to recruiting events like ASC, we’re looking for students who are brave enough to come up to us and initiate a conversation about their career goals,” Dante shared. “When Phoebe approached me, it quickly became obvious that they were one of those students.”

The connection was mutual—Phoebe felt instantly at ease while talking to Dante and, later, Kristin and appreciated their genuine, friendly demeanors and openness to candid conversations about their civil engineering studies and planned career trajectory.

“I’d heard from other students that Webcor treated their interns well and had delivered some great projects throughout California, so when they eventually offered me the summer internship, I decided to go for it and see where it would lead,” they shared.

On May 23, Phoebe officially joined Webcor as a PE intern on the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) Biosolids Digester Facilities Project (BDFP), a project that’s built an admirable reputation for being a fiercely dedicated community partner. Located in San Francisco’s Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood, the BDFP team has committed to taking SFPUC’s strict local hiring requirements even further by establishing hyper-local hiring goals—a testament to their steadfast devotion to empowering BDFP’s surrounding community and championing the development of its local workforce.

It’s a commitment that deeply resonates with Phoebe, whose biggest draw to the construction industry is the opportunity it offers to positively impact the lives of those for which they’re building. “As I get further into my career, I’m really looking forward to seeing how I can invest in my projects’ communities,” they shared.

This summer, Phoebe looks forward to everything that comes with starting a first internship—gaining as much experience as possible and learning the ins and outs of the industry. They’ll dive into the worlds of preconstruction and field work, which will culminate in leading a concrete pour by the end of the summer.

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“I’m definitely looking forward to that,” they said. “There’s a lot of planning aspects to the building I’ve been assigned at BDFP, which we’ll have to go over before starting the concrete work. I was told that I’ll learn more about working in the field during the second half of the summer—not entirely sure what that will entail, but I’m excited!”

Although it’s only been a couple weeks, Phoebe’s already started to find their groove within the BDFP team. They quickly bonded with their fellow BDFP intern, Sam Henson, and their managers, Webcor Concrete Superintendent Gabe Zagorski and Project Engineer, Concrete Sarah Gustafson, during the welcome lunch Gabe and Sarah had organized.

“Getting a chance to talk to Gabe and Sarah in that sort of setting before walking onto the project was really nice,” Phoebe said. “They made sure we felt comfortable and welcomed right from day one.”

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Outside of interning, you can find Phoebe taking care of their many plants, building Legos, or taking photos. “I like using 35mm film,” they said. “I haven’t been able to develop it myself in awhile, but the darkroom process is really fun!” Below are examples of Phoebe's work:

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