The field of construction management opens up a wide range of careers and possibilities for students in the major at Colorado State University. Student Lesly Joana Tevillo Grajales has been active in the growing construction industry this summer as an intern at MTech Mechanical.
Tevillo, a third-year student, chose construction management as a career as it had always interested her before she attended CSU. She noted the constant presence of construction jobs and projects wherever she went.
“Construction has always interested me, especially because it is an industry you are able to see everywhere,” said Tevillo. “The industry is always growing.”
As a first-generation Latina hailing from Commerce City, Colorado, Tevillo now calls CSU’s campus her home, thanks to the members of her community who encouraged her to strive in the field.
“The environment felt welcoming, and somewhere that isn’t too far but also not too close to where I grew up. It was a perfect distance from my family,” Tevillo said.
Tevillo serves as the president of the Women in Construction student organization, a construction management ambassador, and a mentor for students participating in the Women in Construction Summer Institute.
Serving as an intern at MTech Mechanical, Tevillo receives field experience through every responsibility that must be fulfilled through multiple positions, getting a look into the processes happening inside construction work.
Day in the life of an MTech intern
Tevillo works in the field and gets a glimpse of what it’s like to work for a subcontracting company. Her role as an intern consists of a large amount of documentation of the equipment used by the company, as well as recording which tasks need to be completed throughout the workday.
“Documenting all of our equipment is a big deal in this project since it’s a government job, and it requires us to get model numbers, serial numbers, inspection days, and other items into a Microsoft Excel sheet that will be inserted into an Autodesk Revit Model,” Tevillo said. “This process is done for future issues in case something would need attention in getting fixed or changed and would make that job easier on the person to find all the information that is needed.”
Working at the Denver Federal Center, much of the documentation Tevillo carries out each day is done by walking around the construction site, taking photos of the construction happening, or otherwise taking notes of tasks in progress.
“At around 9:30 a.m., I would go inside the building to take pictures or walk around the building to note what else is still needed before inspections. After two to three hours of taking pictures and walking around I would head back and grab all the information and transfer it onto the excel sheet,” Tevillo said.
Constructing her career
Tevillo remarks on how her time as a construction management student at CSU has helped her understand the applications of specific tools and trades of the job, with specific tie-ins with the documentation process through Microsoft Excel and the Autodesk Revit Model, as well as learning to read construction plans.
She notes that the Construction Management Program does “an amazing job of giving real-life examples of issues we can face and allows us to make decisions with the experience we gain through our journey.”
“Working with MTech has really put a face to all the names of equipment we looked at [in class] and helped me fully understand each piece of equipment’s purpose,” Tevillo said. “Taking these classes set me up with the basics I needed to know in order to get through my internship, and going through my internship has allowed me to put the skills I have learned in class to work.”
Tevillo’s favorite part of working at MTech is the atmosphere of mutual understanding and friendliness between every construction crew on site.
“We all come from different backgrounds, but we all are one when it comes down to working as a team. We help each other out, and whenever someone has a question, we respond with the best of our abilities in a respectful manner,” said Tevillo. “I think that’s what I admire about MTech.”
The Department of Construction Management is a part of CSU’s College of Health and Human Sciences.
