Over the summer of 2024, Corval was lucky to have an excellent group of interns working in different areas throughout our company. Although their time with us was short, they each made a positive impact on Corval in their own ways!
Our summer interns were split between three different areas of the company: Project Management, Accounting, and Business Technology.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Two of our summer Project Management interns this year were John K. and Ryan R.
John is a third-year Construction Management major who was able to do a variety of things over the course of the summer. He said that his main duties included entering submittals, entering and submitting RFIs, attending weekly progress meetings for different projects, and filling out various material requisition forms. John also mentioned that he “assisted my supervisor and learned how to stay organized, as well as listening to all of the management staff and doing my best to contribute.” When it comes to what accomplishment he’s the proudest of, John said it would have to be contributing to the success of Corval. Small things add up to something much larger. I’m so grateful for this internship and to have the privilege to have learned and to continue to learn at Corval.” The biggest lesson he learned is that “every project is different. Each project carries their own unique issues and problems, so you need to keep coming up with unique solutions to mitigate problems that inevitably arise to keep the project profitable and on schedule.”
Tony Harrington, one of Corval’s Project Managers, was John’s supervisor this summer, and had only good things to say. “John is a very friendly and motivated individual,” said Harrington. “John’s attention to detail is one of his greatest strengths. His ability to read and learn how project specifications work has allowed our team to manage projects smoother. This has also helped him in assisting to submit RFI’s, submittals, and change orders on a number of projects in a timely manner. He is always willing to take on more work and not afraid to ask questions when he needs additional clarification on tasks.”
Third-year Mechanical Engineering major, Ryan, tackled similar tasks to John this summer. His main responsibilities included drafting and submitting RFIs, material procurement, managing change orders, and tracking productivity. Ryan’s favorite part of the internship, and what he’s most proud of, was “managing the project budget. I am particularly proud of keeping the budget up to date and accurate, as well as understanding how to make adjustments like wage increases or creating new markup schemes.” His biggest lesson learned? Ryan told us that “no matter how much planning goes into a project, it may not always go to plan.”
Ryan’s supervisor for the summer was Corval Project Manager Ben Walz. Walz was grateful for Ryan’s presence and work this summer, saying that “Ryan quickly caught on to the complex phasing plan and building layout [for the project he was assigned], which included multiple areas and multiple floors. This allowed the opportunity for Ryan to track progress and contribute to earned value completion, projections, and scheduling. He became a resource for answering simple questions and drafting clear RFIs, saving the project valuable time and keeping us on schedule. Ryan also learned parts of the project budget, contributing to drafting and submitting change orders. He has continued to keep an open mind and set goals for himself to develop skills and understand his role and the roles of others.”
We are happy to say that both John and Ryan will be continuing their internships with Corval into this coming school year, and we are happy to have them on our team for longer than just the summer.
ACCOUNTING
Frankie J. and Tyler V. were our two Accounting interns this summer.
Frankie is in his second year of school, studying Accounting, and the main focus of his internship was learning the ins and outs of Corval accounting, working with different balance sheet accounts, and reconciling financial statements. He put it simply when talking about his field of study, remarking that he likes “understanding numbers and how they work together.” After everything he learned this summer, Frankie said he is “most proud of his ability to analyze and compile financial statements.”
Frankie’s internship advisor, Controller Nick Sigurdson, commented on Frankie’s demeanor over his summer with Corval. “Frankie is such an enjoyment to be around and he has an amazing attitude,” said Sigurdson. “I really enjoyed watching him learn and take on new challenges every day and having fun while doing it. He is going to do great at school and will have a great future ahead of him in accounting.”
Tyler V. is a fourth-year Finance major with a minor in Accounting. His main focuses this summer were processing payments, as well as reconciled Corval records against our bank’s to ensure that our Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable were in order. Tyler’s favorite part of his internship was the people he had the opportunity to work with, saying that “everyone [at Corval] has been great to me, especially the Accounting Department.” He also mentioned that the biggest lesson he learned during his summer with us was how important it is to ask questions. “I would not have gotten far as I did this summer without asking questions; it empowered me to learn something new every day.”
Nick Sigurdson was Tyler’s supervisor as well, and had only good things to say about him. “One of his biggest accomplishments is how Tyler was able to learn the company’s processes, procedures, and software very quickly to the point he was completing them on his own with little to no guidance,” mentioned Sigurdson. “He even took it a step further to put together detailed procedure documents on all the tasks he worked on to assist himself and anyone one else wanting to learn that various procedure. He is a very smart and has a bright future ahead of him.”
BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY
Our Business Technology (“BT”) department had two interns this summer: Leah W. and Luke J.
This was Leah’s second year as a Corval summer intern, and we were happy to have her back on our team. She is a third-year Computer Networking and Information Technology major and fit right in with our BT team. Her main responsibilities this summer included researching and testing ways to improve Corval’s network, creating network maps for Corval websites, and helping out with various day-to-day projects. Leah told us that her favorite part of her internship was “researching ways to improve Corval’s network and working with my supervisor to implement those changes. I’d say my biggest accomplishment is helping redesign our data center.” The biggest lesson she learned this summer was the importance of “research, testing, and collaboration before implementing changes. I spent a lot of time researching and discussing the pros and cons of possible improvements to Corval’s network.”
Leah’s supervisor this summer was Jon Widerski, Corval’s Information Security Engineer. He was quite impressed with her abilities, telling us that “as Leah’s confidence in herself and her ideas grew, she exploded into a new person that was excited to share ways that Corval could improve on our current network setup and design. She has tested and implemented some of her ideas into our network configurations, making our network more efficient and secure.” Widerski was impressed with her diligent work over the past few months and was thankful to have her on the BT team this summer.
Luke J. is a third-year Computer Science major, and actually split his time between the Business Technology and Procurement teams this summer. His main duties with BT included creating and editing field service forms for Corval’s Service team, creating/redesigning forms for our Procurement team, and editing and formatting various other internal documents. When asked about his favorite part of his internship, Luke noted that it was “getting the opportunity to help create the field service forms on the testing server and move those forms to the actual production environment. I also enjoyed being able to get feedback from people in the field using those forms and getting direct suggestions on changes or updates that could be beneficial to them.” This connected to the biggest lesson he learned, that being the importance of communication and feedback with and from others. “This allows for a positive work flow and an end product that everyone is satisfied with,” Luke said. “During my internship at Corval, I got to experience this first-hand while working on multiple different projects with others.”
As he was split between two departments, Luke had two supervisors this summer: Aaron Walz, Business Systems Analyst, for Business Technology and David Secker, Vice President of Preconstruction, for Procurement. Both had great things to say about Luke’s contributions this summer. Aaron Walz mentioned that he really appreciated “Luke’s eagerness to learn and wanting to help out in any way he could, large or small,” and that he is excited about the “half a dozen forms [that Luke created] for the Service Technicians that will be routinely used in the field.” On the Procurement side, David Secker appreciated Luke’s commitment to his team, noting that “Luke checked in often, ensuring he was aligned with our department and his responsibilities with us.” Secker also mentioned that Luke’s work with various Procurement documents “compiled different data sets into a single, conformed list. It allowed the end user to compare the information in hours, compared to days.”
Thank you to all of our interns this summer for your contributions to Corval! Corval is proud of what you’ve accomplished, and we wish you the best of luck in your upcoming school year.
To become a Corval intern, interested individuals can apply online on the Corval Careers page of our website or through their university’s job board (via Handshake). Qualified candidates will have the opportunity to participate in a phone interview and an in-person interview when selected.
