My first foray into blogging

Hello everyone. Well, this blog marks my first attempt at being journalistic in any way. I was the sports editor for my high school yearbook, but that job mostly consisted of writing captions for photos (which I was quite good at, I must admit)

I'll start off with a little about myself. I'm currently a senior in civil engineering at the University of Dayton in Dayton, OH. UD has been the most amazing experience of my life. I've met so many great friends and have taken advantage of some unique opportunities along the way. It was a huge adjustment moving from small hilly town of Kittanning, PA to the relatively flat city of Dayton, OH. I was all alone in a new place, but so where many other kids at UD. I immediately made new friends and realized that UD would be my new "home" for the next 4 (or in my case, 5) years. I always tell people that UD is the greatest university in the world. That is not a lie, but I might be a little biased. I encourage anyone considering colleges to put UD on your list.

Anyways, after having a blast freshman year making the hike up the hill to Stuart Hall through rain, snow, and sleet, I came back home for the summer. I was sad to leave, but I managed to get a summer internship with the Gateway Engineers in Pittsburgh. I had a great summer working with Gateway and learning about municipal engineering. In addition, I helped my buddy Carl with his sprint car race team and hung out with old friends. I can see why people love college. UD has a remarkable sense of community. It was odd to realize I couldn't just walk down the hall and find someone to hang out with during the summer.

In fall 2006, I moved into Virginia W. Kettering Hall the day after Carl won his first feature race. (what a great way to end my summer) VWK was nice and it was an easier walk than Stuart Hall. That semester was a wakeup call to how difficult engineering would become. I had 17 credits, all of them math, science, and engineering. After struggling through the first half of the semester, I began interviews for co-ops for the winter semester. For those that don't know, co-ops allow students to gain valuable work experience while they are still in school. They also pay pretty well and I liked the idea of taking a semester off of classes :). I interviewed with 5 companies and received 5 offers. It was a difficult decision to make, but I finally chose to work for Ulliman Schutte Construction.

Ulliman Schutte Construction is a general contractor based in Miamisburg, OH (just south of Dayton) that specializes in construction and renovation of water and wastewater treatment facilities in the Eastern US. After a much needed winter break, I moved to Roanoke, VA to begin my assignment to a project that was expanding a wastewater treatment plant. I had my own small apartment paid for by USC. It was pretty exciting to be living on my own 6 hours from home. Roanoke has a small town feel. The city itself is situated in picturesque mountains and would be my home for the next 5 months. At the jobsite, I was in charge of purchasing materials, renting equipment, tracking submittals, and other miscellaneous tasks. Traveling around the city to pick up pipe, bolts, equipment, and other supplies allowed me to learn the ins and outs of the area quickly. I can probably still tell you how to get to the 2 nearest Lowes in the area from anywhere within a 20 mile radius. Roanoke is a great outdoors city and the weather is gorgeous most of the year. However, the jobsite I was working on was almost complete and I would be co-oping through August.

I had been working with a project engineer at Roanoke for most of my first term. During my stay in Roanoke, he became project manager of a new wastewater treatment plant near Culpeper, VA. Adam decided that I would be a good fit on his jobsite. So plans were made for me to move from Roanoke to Culpeper via Washington, D.C. at the end of April. For a month, I commuted over an hour fifteen minutes from a USC owned apartment in Alexandria, VA to Culpeper, VA. The drive stunk but it was pretty awesome living in D.C. Myself and a fellow co-op had a lot of fun. We were pretty close to the metro station and I hopped on it a few times to travel into the city to catch a Nationals game as well as see all the sites downtown. I wish I had been 21 so I could have experienced the nightlife in the city, but it wasn't that big of a deal to me at the time.

During my month in D.C., I was the only engineer on the jobsite full time. Adam would travel up from Roanoke for a few days each week to check on progress and attend meetings. Adam had full faith in my abilities after working together in Roanoke. He put me in charge of tracking progress of concrete placement, equipment deliveries, rentals, purchase orders, piping layout drawings, subcontracts, among various other responsibilities. (I even got to run the excavator, which was much easier than I anticipated once I got the hang of it) I also worked with the superintendant and foremen on a daily basis. It was during this summer that I recognized that I wanted to become a project manager in construction. It was exhilarating to watch the new wastewater plant being built and knowing that I played a large part in that. I couldn't have asked for a better project manager, superintendant, and project to work with. I moved to Culpeper at the end of May and lived with the new project engineer for the rest of the summer. I was sad to leave the jobsite in August but I was also eager to get back to my friends at UD.


In fall 2007, I moved into my first UD house. For those non-UDers out there, UD has a completely unique housing system for upperclass students. UD owns hundreds of houses. Students apply through a lottery system based on academic credits and discipline violations to choose their houses. All of these houses are located in tight knit residential areas. These areas are affectionately referred to as the "Ghetto" and "Darkside." All houses are college students so it makes for some fun filled weekends, especially when the sun is out. I would be living in 108 Woodland on the Darkside with 6 new roommates. We figured out that it was the largest non-frat house that UD owns. We also made good use of the basement that has since been locked up by UD facilities. (Check out this link to take a peek inside) Junior year brought its own set of challenges as classes became tougher. I still managed to do quite well despite turning 21 halfway through the year.

That takes me through the end of my "Junior" year at UD. More to come about my adventures during my 4th/Junior Part 2/Senior year tomorrow.