In October, Project Engineer (PE) Intern Bella Stone made the last-minute decision to stop by an on-campus career fair targeting civil engineering (CE) majors at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (SLO), where she was working toward her bachelor's degree. As a CE major, she was torn between pursuing an internship within the construction or civil industry�a dilemma she shared with Superintendent Zach Pollard, who was there to represent Webcor and recruit future PE interns.

After meeting Bella and learning about her career aspirations and professional interests, Zach encouraged her to explore the construction route, specifically concrete. Their conversation stuck, and a few short weeks later, Bella was sitting in front of a panel of Webcorians interviewing her for a spot in Webcor's summer intern class of 2023. She realized, however, that she also had a question for them: Why should a civil engineer choose a career in the construction industry?

"They responded by explaining that construction is a much more collaborative career than civil engineering and emphasized that each day in the construction world presents a new challenge to tackle and opportunity to learn," Bella says. "Immediately, I was intrigued because sitting silently at a desk all day has always sounded like a nightmare to me."

Seven months later, Bella started her first day as one of nine PE interns on the Biosolids Digester Facilities Project (BDFP) in San Francisco's Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood. As one of Webcor's largest, most unique and complicated projects, the BDFP offers no shortage of opportunities for interns to get their hands dirty and staffs more interns than any other active project�a perfect fit for Bella. Since joining BDFP's team last month, Bella's wasted no time getting involved in all things formwork, including formwork deliveries, takeoffs, and inventory, and bonding with her fellow BDFP interns.

"We're fortunate to be on a project that includes so many interns," she says. "It's been fun to go through all the trainings and events together and work together out in the field."

As summer progresses, Bella looks forward to learning more about the vast world of construction through hands-on experience and exposure to the industry's various facets. Recently, she watched her team build Building 600's first-floor deck, fueling her excitement for her first deck pour later this summer. Although she's still debating between a career in civil engineering and construction, her experience as a PE intern thus far has been nothing short of rewarding and continues to exceed her expectations.

"I'm fascinated by the building process," she says. "It feels amazing to understand a building's structural design through both a civil engineering and construction lens."

After completing her internship in September, Bella will begin her junior year at Cal Poly SLO, where she'll return to both her CE classes and the Cal Poly SLO Women's Ultimate Frisbee team. As an active team member, Bella balances tournaments and near-daily team practices with a full CE course load throughout the school year.

"I love anything outdoor or exercise-related," she says. "I'm from Washington, so I love hiking in the Cascades. In SLO, I love surfing , running, climbing, going to the gym, and coaching kids' gymnastics teams. I also love dogs�my parents have two of them, and I'm planning to adopt one the second I live somewhere that allows pets!"

The Cosm at Hollywood Park team celebrated topping out the 62,000-SF entertainment venue's structural steel on June 23. The Mayor of Inglewood and representatives from project partners SME Steel, Sasco, Murray Company, Anning-Johnson Company, Cosm, HKS, Wilson Meany, The Kroenke Group, CBRE, TEC, and Southwest Steel of California joined the Webcor team for a celebratory lunch and topping-out ceremony at the Cosm job site. All team members signed the final beam before witnessing its final placement atop the structure's third level.

This milestone achievement was made possible by the early coordination efforts the team implemented in response to a few field-related issues that arose early on, says Assistant Superintendent Dawit Tekeste.

"We organized several meetings, including weekly structural working sessions with the design team and other trades as needed, and field coordination walks that have been critical to project success," he says. "The steel working sessions were especially valuable because they gave us the opportunity to work through the majority of project issues before shop drawings and erection began."

The positive working history shared between Webcor's Cosm team has also been key to the project's success. Several Webcorians who delivered Fairmont Century Plaza and Hollywood Park Retail Phase 1 together have reunited to compose the Cosm team. The high level of trust and collaboration built between team members on both the Fairmont and Hollywood Park projects positioned them for continued success on Cosm right from the start, says Superintendent Ryan Gerber.

"We have a really strong project team of Webcorians who have proven to work well together," he says. "We mesh well with one another and each bring our individual strengths to the table."

Now that they've completed steel welding/bolting and decking, they're roughing in the slab-on metal decks. Their next major milestone-pouring the level three deck so they can work underneath the live deck and begin interior and exterior wall framing, which will involve several more trade partners-is set for the end of the month.

Once complete, Cosm will feature a 60-foot, 12k resolution LED dome designed to immerse guests in the "front row" experience of live events such as games and concerts via Cosm's Shared Reality technology. This unique entertainment venue, conveniently located adjacent to SoFi Stadium in Hollywood Park, will be the first of a hundred that Cosm plans to develop worldwide.

For the last five-plus years, Webcorians have been actively involved with City College of San Francisco's (CCSF) Construction Management (CM) program as guest lecturers and members of the department's advisory board to help influence the curriculum and build a pipeline of local talent for Webcor. Various Webcor leaders have spearheaded Webcor-led site tours, presentations, and more to educate the students through real-world exposure and hands-on learning.

"I strongly believe in the significance of the community college system-four-year universities aren't for everyone," says Webcor Sr. VP Greg Chauhan. "Working directly with CCSF's CM program is an effective way to support our community and get involved. I'd like to see Webcorians routinely partner with CCSF as guest lecturers and project walk leaders to help tie together every aspect of construction for these promising students."

Last year, Webcor re-launched our partnership with CCSF after a two-year hiatus due to COVID. To kick off this year's activities, Webcor project leaders organized a series of project tours and insightful presentations with field leaders at San Francisco Public Utilities Commission Biosolids Digester Facilities Project (SFPUC BDFP) and Mission Rock Parcel F. Each tour began with a detailed presentation from field leaders, who explained the project's scope, background, delivery, challenges, community outreach initiatives, and more. Presenters wrapped up each session with Q&A between themselves and the students before transitioning to the site tour.

The site visits gave students an opportunity to connect the lessons they've learned in the classroom to the activities Webcorians-from project engineers to directors and construction managers-are doing on our projects. The site tours gave the students a chance to ask Webcor's field leaders questions about what they were seeing and learning, which in turn shed light on ways involved Webcorians can help improve CCSF's CM program curriculum.

Biosolids Digester Facilities Project (BDFP)

Superintendents Lili Fang and Juan Ramos kicked off the BDFP presentation with a high-level project overview-including its unique community impact-followed by a detailed discussion of the planning and coordination that go into preparing for project delivery. Topics included trade coordination and those involved (all project stakeholders), incorporation into a P6 construction schedule, and VDC coordination tools and processes-past, current, and future.

"We hope the students left the job site with a better of idea of the software systems/skills required to execute work on a complex construction project like BDFP, all the cool things we get to help build, and our work's influence on the greater San Francisco population at large," says Construction Manager Chase Corcorran, who helped coordinate BDFP's site tour and presentation. "The work we do is challenging, significant to the community, really cool, and pays damn well. A lot of high school and college students dismiss construction as simply a so-so blue-collar industry until they get a real glimpse of it and realize that commercial construction is a thought-provoking, complicated, technologically advanced, and fun/dynamic way to earn a living."

Mission Rock Parcel F

Project Managers Hugh Tan and Prayas Goyal led the final tour of Webcor's spring job walk series at Mission Rock Parcel F, where they kicked off with a tour of a recently poured top deck and a few ongoing activities. As they descended from the tower's 16^th level (the building's top level at the time) to the second, where framing/MEPS was already complete, the students voiced their admiration of the project's progress. It was an exciting opportunity for them to see how high-rises are built up-close, Prayas says.

"They were very thankful for this chance to witness the work they're learning in theory in real life," he continues. "It was great to see such an engaged, diverse group of construction management students."

The tour group consisted of CCSF students ranging from experienced professionals pursuing a more thorough CM education to young adults who hadn't yet established their careers and wanted to absorb as much construction knowledge as they could. Their passion for the industry was palpable, and Hugh and Prayas appreciated the group's genuine curiosity about the skills required to become a project manager and the work involved with delivering a complex residential high-rise such as Parcel F.

"We were surrounded by some great questions asking the specifics of our project and what we do on a daily basis," Hugh says. "We explained how we do things at Webcor and how the construction industry works in the U.S., as several students were new to the country but had an existing AEC background. Knowing we were helping them just by sharing our experiences and shedding light on how the industry works was extremely rewarding."

Hugh adds that he appreciates Webcor continuing to invest its time and resources in these types of local workforce development efforts as a substantial way to support our communities and those living within them.

"The students were so eager to learn and make connections so they could prepare for their next job interview," he says. "When a local GC supports its community members in their quest to achieve their career goals like this, it sends a powerful message."