We shadowed Lewis intern Cody Klansnic at Building Cure, a cancer research lab project for Seattle Children’s, to find out more about his experience here at Lewis. Cody is going into his junior year at University of Washington and beginning his studies in the Construction Management program.
Cody Klansnic is one of our most unique interns yet, having started as a laborer here at Lewis before rejoining as an intern this summer.
Before college, Cody spent a summer pouring concrete for the south tower at our Troy Block project. When looking at summer internships, Cody knew he wanted to return to Lewis, but due to a football injury earlier in the summer, he spent the first half of his internship working at our Headquarters as an estimator before joining the team at Building Cure.
While in the office, Cody worked with all our estimators and learned how to do quantity take-offs and clearly communicate that information to the project teams—all of which will prove valuable as he continues to move through his program.
Currently, Cody spends his days at Building Cure. He gets into the office by 6:30 a.m. to attend the daily safety huddle and warmup on site before walking the jobsite to conduct a safety audit. The rest of the morning is spent working with Project Manager Gabe Stephens to get subcontractor pricing and update project cost data using our Procore software. At the end of the day, you can find Cody walking the jobsite again, this time documenting construction progress with a 360-degree camera.
It is clear that Cody is at home on a fast-paced jobsite. He is comfortable and confident walking through active working areas and is even stopped by a laborer—“Killer” or “B2K” they call Cody, a remnant nickname from his time working at Troy Block. The nickname, a reference to the movie Full Metal Jacket, was given to him by another laborer because of his hard work on the project. If you look closely, underneath a collage of jobsite stickers on Cody’s hard hat, the words “Born to Kill” are barely legible.
“One of the best things about coming to work here is how inclusive everyone has been,” Cody said. “When I ask a question, people are always willing to answer and will explain things until I understand.”
His advice for future interns is to start early, because even if you don’t think you know enough to be a good intern, you will learn how to do it. That on-the-job experience is going to be invaluable in the classroom. He also recommends getting to know laborers and, if you can, to get as much field experience as possible; understanding field work will help you be a better intern.
“After this internship, I think I have a much better understanding of the construction process as a whole. This first-hand experience will be a great thing to reference as I start in my program,” Cody said. It doesn’t hurt that his coworkers are excellent resources for questions he has about homework.
Thankfully, Cody’s time here at Lewis is not over. He will continue to help out at Building Cure once a week for the rest of the school year, and he hopes to return next summer to continue his internship.
