Summer at Stantec
Summer Internship 2022
Summer of 2022, I had the wonderful opportunity to intern at Stantec in Chicago, Illinois. Throughout my time there, I learned valuable tools, met amazing people, and understood a bit more of what the work-life is like working for a large firm such as a Stantec. I worked under amazing designers such as Joe Cliggott and Jill Dexter.
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Throughout my time here, I also had the opportunity to not only connect with other designers and representatives, but other students as well. Take a look through this page to explore a bit more of what I accomplished and learned during my time at Stantec.
A Part of the Team
This summer, I not only had the opportunity to work as a designer, but also to learn and get to know designers. I was able to attend events such as Neocon, the DIFFA Ball, IIDA RED Awards and several other lunches and afternoon events. I was so thankful for this aspect of the internship as I was able to broaden my connection list in the design world but also remember people who I felt could influence my future in design as well.
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I also was able to see how much Stantec is involved in the local community. This summer, I had the opportunity to get involved myself and volunteer at the Envision Center, a community center that aids in providing a day space for those with disabilities or special needs. For the day, my colleagues and I helped to rejuvenate their garden and work alongside the students at the day center. It was a memorable and awarding experience.
Red Stick Hogan
The Red Stick Hogan is a build constructed of three shipping containers to create a space for a couple that is wanting to mesh work and home life and also infuse some of their Navajo culture into it.
Stantec Projects
I worked on a total for seven different projects, one being a solely intern project, which can be found on my projects page (click the button below to check out 3 Bluebirds Farm Project). Over the course of my time this summer, I worked to finish specification binders for a project at Camp Lejeune, expansion planning for a previous client of Stantec Chicago's office, American Ag, programming for a new wing at Northwestern Medical Center and several program studies for other Stantec clients. I also was able to start a fresh project just before leaving. This was one of my favorite projects as I was able to start from the very beginning of the process, that being a site visit and client meetings. ​​​​
Here, I completed program studies for the Cook County building. I figured out how much they needed vs. how much they had planned.
Finished binder submittals for NAVFAC review
Here I was able to help program a new wing expansion as well as visit current project Stantec was working on at the hospital.
Here, I completed program studies for the Cook County building. I figured out how much they needed vs. how much they had planned.
350 N Orleans-Stantec Office
Out of all the projects I had the opportunity to work on, this was by far my favorite. The team was amazing and made me feel as if I was truly one of the designers. They never doubted my suggestions and were always there to answer my questions. This project was created in hopes to re-develop a better layout for the river and dams sector building of Stantec in Chicago. They were moving floors in their building and wanted our help to reconfigure a new way to layout their workstations. In short, they wanted to maximize their space the most and try to fit as many workstations as they could. This was a lengthy process but so beneficial to my experience in the design world. I am happy to say that the team eventually chose a layout that was mostly my doing, along with my colleague Lizz Spearman, at the Detroit office. This was something I loved the most about this project: the crossing of Stantec offices by means of Microsoft Teams. First time I was able to truly collaborate on a project virtually.
