Career and Leadership Development Academy Real Estate, Architecture, Engineering, Construction Day Blog (Class of 2023)

Throughout the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce’s Career and Leadership Development Academy eight month program, each of the eight middle schools are assigned a day to write about their experiences. 42 students from across all eight New Hanover County middle schools participated in the fifth industry exploration day, Real Estate, Architecture, Engineering, and Construction, on January 4 at City Hall. In addition to learning about the various types of engineering, construction trades, real estate, and architecture career opportunities, they experienced building their own city blocks through an activity designed and led by LS3P. They strolled downtown Wilmington city blocks and saw the buildings through a new lens after today’s CLDA experience. They absorbed so much in just four hours. Learn more about their experience from these 7th graders from Holly Shelter in their own words. 

What we experienced today:

Our experience today was very informative.  We learned what it takes to develop a city and it is not as easy as you might think. There are multiple steps and players involved from developers, architects, engineers, construction crews, interior designers, and the government who all play a key role.  The LS3P Architecture firm facilitated our entire program today so that we could understand all the facets of building a city.  Mr. Charles Boney, the Senior Project Manager and Vice President of LS3P, and his team collaborated with us throughout the entire day.  We started with creating our own city blocks with the legos. Our guest speakers explained each of their roles in building a real city block.  And lastly we walked around downtown Wilmington to see for ourselves the different buildings with different backstories and different designs to it.

How we developed our leadership skills:
The power skill practice we did today was making a city out of lego blocks to figure out how buildings belong together. We were learning how to articulate thoughts and ideas effectively using oral, written, and nonverbal communication skills. With the power skill practice we learned how to communicate, collaborate, critical think, and adapt to the changes of the practice they had us do. We used Lego blocks to represent different establishments like parking decks, multi-family housing, office buildings, retail space or restaurants, community or government, art, and parks. We had a decoder of the colors we had to use and we then picked a spot with blocks. We thought we were going to be working with our school but Mrs. Laura put us into different groups, showing us adaptability and what designers have to do when something doesn't work out how they thought it would.  We had to learn how to incorporate different personalities and learn to communicate.  For example one group had a lot of shy people and it was challenging to get people to talk but they worked through it and still accomplished the task.  

Who we heard from:

Mayor Bill Saffo 

We met Mayor Bill Saffo of Wilmington at the City Hall in the City Council room.   City Hall is on the top floor of Thalian Hall, a very historic theater.  Mayor Saffo is pretty much in charge of everything in our community of Wilmington however he needs to make the final decision with the city council members. A mayor is a 2 year elective term which means the citizens of wilmington vote to determine who the mayor of wilmington is every two years.  Mayor Saffo also talked about what the city has to offer. The mayor and the city hall determine what buildings are built in the city.   He believes if a company builds a building in his city and it brings jobs to our city then the developers must also become a part of the community for example building schools, giving funds to the police and fire departments and giving taxes.   If the public community or a developer asks for something the Mayor and city council members will see if the proposal has followed federal, state, and local laws and rules.  They will look over the plan and revise it. They either agree or ask the developer to revise the problem and resubmit the proposal. 

Engineers Zackery Norris & David Van der Vossen 

Zackery Norris works for Andrew Consulting Engineers. From a young age he grew up around construction. He discovered engineering through his love of math and construction. He went to UNC in Charlotte. He focused on his bachelor's degree but he already knew he was gonna get his masters degree. He focused on structural engineering. Structural engineering is the branch of civil engineering that deals with large modern buildings and similar structures. He was afraid it would be difficult to find an engineering job in Wilmington. It actually wasn’t as hard as he thought. His duties for his job require him to spend most of his days in his office working on the computer with special software. One of the things he does is look at building issues. He worked on a new bulkhead for Bradley Creek Marina, he did damage replacement for the Oak Island Pier from the damage founded in October in the year 2016, last thing they did was design the Wilson Center that has 1000 deep concrete foundations. One important thing that you need to know about this career is that communication is key!!

Another engineer we heard from today is David Van der Vossen who works for Allen + Shariff. He is an MEP engineer. MEP stands for mechanical, electrical, and plumbing. They often solve problems and get hands-on. Mechanical engineering focuses on air conditioning, heating, and ventilation/exhaust. Electrical engineering deals with lighting, fire alarms, and power distribution. Plumbing engineering concentrates on water, sanitary, storm water, gas, and medical gas. A cool fact about the company is they have done quite a bit of work with NASA. To become a MEP engineer you need a 4 year degree in mechanical or electrical engineering. You don’t have to, but it limits your career choices in this field. You also need a professional engineering license!! A starting salary in this field is from $60,000-$65,00. They also offer internships to juniors and seniors in college during the summer time, every so often they’ll accept high school students. You might be wondering what the difference between a plumber and a plumbing engineer or an electrician and an electrical engineer? The difference between a plumbing engineer or an electrical engineer is that they design the systems while a plumber or electrician works on getting everything to work. It was amazing to hear from these speakers!!

Construction and Project Managers David Gadalla, Corey Douglas, John Monteith

Mr Gadalla and Mr. Douglas work for a construction company called Clancy and Theys.  They have been involved with construction projects up and down the east coast including some very popular spots in downtown Wilmington.  While Mr. Monteith works for the Montieth Construction Corporation.  The Monteith company has built many schools in New Hanover County including College Park Elementary, Wrightsville Beach Elementary, CFCC buildings, and the Department of Health and Human Services building.   One cool fact that we learned was they were involved with building GLOW Academy and there was an all female team that worked on this particular project. 

Some things we had learned from both speakers was that teamwork is key. Mainly in construction you need communication skills and teamwork because you have to discuss different ideas you have of every building, place, etc. For example if all your team is doing is fussing and arguing then you won't get anything done. So the project manager needs to make sure everyone has the materials they need and specific instructions on how and when to build their part.   All the players need to be adaptable and use teamwork and communication skills so everything will work out well.  Construction has changed a lot with modern technology.  They  can use drones, 3D images, etc to determine exact measurements and placement of materials prior to even starting. There are also different departments within the construction field. For example project managers, constructors, plumbers, electricians, designers, and builders but plenty more. If you actually think about it you do plenty of constructing and things in daily life. Like arts and crafts, video games, and more there's no age limit to when you can start. So if you're ever interested in constructing, I think  you should go for it. It's very interesting and an amazing job that can help you with teamwork.

Architecture and Interior Designs from LS3P Firm

Architects have the vision and also are good listeners.  They view the building as a piece of art that has a story that wants to be shared. Like when you walk near a building, you might feel different, so it might make you feel more comfortable, or it might make you uncomfortable. Architects want to know how the developer wants people to feel in the environment so they design the building to give that specific feeling.  Interior designers take pictures that they put onto a computer and make it 3D. They color code the 3D pictures to show the different parts of the building. There's a lot of different patterns when it comes to communities and builds. Everything that is in your house or other buildings has to go through a process to make sure everything is right. You also don't have to be good at graphic design because the computer can help you with anything you want. But you need a creative mind. The architects and designers can even upload the design into a virtual world.  A developer can view it through virtual goggles by walking through the space and experiencing the colors, textures, materials before they even begin building it. 

What we experienced on our walking tour of Downtown Wilmington

Today on our tour of downtown Wilmington. We learned that there are tunnels under some of the buildings downtown they used to connect all the historic buildings downtown.  As we were walking downtown we saw the public library which the tour guide said would be demolished and the entire city block would be rebuilt to include a new public library that is more comfortable, the Cape Fear Museum,  parking, and apartments in the near future. We walked across to the LS3P office and saw the office the workers may work in. We met with a High-School intern who works there for 2 days a week. He recently learned how to use the programs to create a 3d model of buildings. We also saw another interior designer who worked to create the Monteith office.  They are also working to remodel the whole block the public library is on. A fun fact about the Monteith office is that at nighttime, they make it so the elevator LED lights turn red at night because that's their company colors and to make it more appealing.

What we took away:   

Our experience during this field trip was nice because we got to tour downtown, get fresh air and learn about our community. We got to learn about Engineering, Real Estate, Construction, Architecture and Interior designing.  We also learned that what used to be a male dominated profession has become more inclusive of women.  It doesn't matter if you're male or female, you can do any job you want.  Building a city is very complicated.  A developer has an idea, the architect designs the space, the engineer makes it safe, the government verifies it, the construction team builds it, the designers select the finishes.  Employees need to have good communication, collaboration, critical thinking and adaptability skills in order to be successful in this field.