As my internship at Summer Consultants comes to a close, I’ve taken time to reflect on the past 12 weeks. From the very first day, I was in a constant state of learning – everyday brought a new fact, concept or design aspect that I hadn’t encountered before.

It is a tradition of mine to track my internships via Post-It notes. Every day has a Post-It note with at least one new piece of knowledge. Here are a few of my favorites:

  • Drawings tend to differ (sometimes drastically) from what is actually built.
  • In renovation work, it is best to minimize demolition as it never goes as smoothly as planned.
  • Patience and perseverance are a must. Software like IES can be very finicky.
  • Isolation valves are a great tool for construction – you can add them in to minimize system loss.
  • Air change requirements can drive design more than temperature.
  • Systems should be simple, efficient, and future forward.

I have at least 60 other Post-Its with similar messages – some general, while others are more mechanically focused. These notes will be very useful in my upcoming 5th year thesis at Penn State.

When I started in May, I was fortunate to join two projects at the beginning stages – a steam boiler replacement and a roof replacement. This was a unique opportunity because not many projects are completed (or almost completed) within a single summer! For the steam boiler project, I went on site visits, drafting existing conditions and new work in CAD, and made some system details. For the roof replacement project, I performed U-value calculations, drafted the existing conditions, and spent many hours running IES models to determine energy savings. On other projects I performed pressure drop calculations, psychrometrics, CLTD and SHF calculations, duct sizing, and REVIT work.

Outside of project work, the people at Summer Consultants made my internship unforgettable. Everyone in the office is friendly and more than willing to answer questions. Lunches were especially fun because of the music games we play – Spotle, Bandle, Heardle, and Crosstunes. I never knew so many music games existed!

I am grateful for the opportunity to intern at Summer Consultants – it was a summer full of interested projects, welcoming people, and lots of learning!