We kicked off summer and our internship program in typical Merrick style—with food! There’s no better way to welcome our interns than with an ice cream social and a Merrick Engineering Lunch (MEL) Talk where our interns taught us about who they are and what they hope to gain from their experience at Merrick.

After getting to know everyone over Blizzards, it’s clear we have a talented group of interns who fit right in with our Merrick family.

Learn more about our 2018 Summer Interns >

Name: Joel Berger
From: San Diego, CA
School: University of Colorado, Boulder
Studying: Civil/Structural Engineering
Internship Type: Structural Engineering for High Performance Facilities, Greenwood Village Office

Loves hiking, off roading, cars, the Spurs, the Chargers, and dogs.

Why did you want to intern at Merrick?
I wanted to intern at Merrick because of the type of projects Merrick is a part of. I also thought the company was not too large to get lost in.

What’s the best part about working at Merrick so far?
The best part of working at Merrick so far is the community and the network I have formed. I think the people here are genuine and hard working. I have felt very welcome here over the first few weeks of the internship. I also have really enjoyed learning about the different projects that the group has worked on.

Name: Karli Harney
From: Arvada, CO
School: Northern State University, South Dakota
Studying: Environmental Science and Biology with minors in GIS and Geography
Internship Type: Hand-filtering LiDAR data for Geomatics, Greenwood Village Office

Loves mountain biking, handling dogs, listening to music, soccer, and her two dogs, Aspen and Oakley.

Tell us about your proudest accomplishment.
Getting an academic and athletic scholarship and balancing double majoring, double minoring, playing soccer, having a part-time job, maintaining a 3.5 or higher GPA, and being on track to graduate in four years.

What are your goals after graduation?
To become a technician in a remote sensing field and work my way up to an analyst or specialist.

Name: Kylie Rasmussen
From: Coeur d’ Alene, ID
School: Colorado State University
Studying: Environmental Engineering
Internship Type: Civil/Water Engineering for Water/Wastewater, Denver Office

Loves traveling and doing anything outside like skiing, hiking, biking, and backpacking.

What’s the best part about working at Merrick so far?
Besides giving me the opportunity to live in Denver all summer or work just a few cubicles over from my sister, the best part about working at Merrick is that I get to work with people that are just as passionate about environmental engineering as I am. It’s only been a few weeks, but I can truly tell that I am on the right path and that this is the kind of practice I want to devote my future career to. After three years of taking some pretty grueling classes and having many friends that hate their field after they already get their degree, it feels so good to have the confirmation that all the hard work will pay off. I can see myself working in this field for the rest of my life and loving it. Thanks to Merrick and this summer opportunity, I am able to have this peace of mind as I finish getting my degree.

What are your goals after graduation?
After graduating in two years, my dream is to join the Peace Corps and use my environmental engineering knowledge to volunteer overseas and work towards giving communities access to clean water, promoting sustainable use of their natural resources, and educating on environmental issues. After, my plan is to start my career in the states and work towards getting my PE and possibly going back to school to get my Master’s degree.

Name: Sean Ryan
From: Knoxville, TN
School: Belmont Abbey College
Studying: Math with a Business Management minor
Internship Type: Land Survey for Surveying, Charlotte Office

Loves: I am an avid Boston/New England sports fan! Traveling, soccer, and anything ocean related (especially jet skiing).

What does a typical day at the office look like?
I arrive at the job site, and we typically survey the area for corners and other important points. These points are used to help map out the infrastructure.

Why did you want to intern at Merrick?
I wanted to get experience in a field that I have a high interest in. Merrick gave me the opportunity to see what the job is like first-hand and in a growing city like Charlotte.

Name: Rachel Turner
From: Evergreen, CO
School: University of Colorado, Boulder
Studying: Architectural Engineering
Internship Type: Architectural/Electrical Engineering for High Performance Facilities, Greenwood Village Office

Loves hiking, working out, drawing, baking, and spending time with my family.

Why did you want to intern at Merrick?
I wanted to intern at Merrick because the company has a variety of disciplines and departments. Even though my position title is “electrical engineering” I can still interact with personnel in the office that are in the structure, civil, management, architecture, etc. departments and learn about their disciplines in addition to my own. I felt that my internship at Merrick would further my education as an engineer in a manner that I would not get in a classroom setting or in a specialty firm. In my interviews I also had a good “gut feeling,” everyone seemed open, welcoming, and willing to teach.

Tell us about your proudest accomplishment.
My proudest accomplishment is figuring out what was causing my migraines. In middle school I started to get bad migraines that would last for days and would usually end with a trip to the Emergency Room. Once high school rolled around I also started having issues with syncope and began to see a neurologist. The neurologist helped in terms of medications, but it was up to me to figure out what was causing the migraines because it’s different for every person. This meant that I had to cut foods out of my diet and slowly start adding them in again, keep a daily journal, and develop a strict routine to follow daily. Eventually, I was able to pinpoint certain triggers and get my migraines to a manageable level where I wasn’t missing as much school. I was very proud of myself for being able to get to this point because I had to do it all on my own. My parents couldn’t be with me every second of the day or feel how I was feeling, so it was my responsibility to make sure that I was adhering to the plan and listening to my body. It’s not an “A” on an exam or some big honor that everyone knows about, but it’s what was important to me at the time and has helped me drastically in terms of work ethic and discipline in other aspects of my life.

Name: Clare Harris
From: Boone, NC
School: University of North Carolina, Charlotte
Studying: Civil Engineering with a Water Resources concentration
Internship Type: Land Development for Infrastructure, Charlotte Office

Loves rock climbing, movies, and traveling.

What’s the best part about working at Merrick so far?
The people have been absolutely wonderful. It has been such a great environment to work in. Also, I have learned so much just in the past few weeks, I finally get to see what my schooling means in a real-world application.

What are your goals after graduation?
To get a job, take the PE (and hopefully pass it), and I’m also considering graduate school. But if I were to do it, I think I would want to wait a year or so to get a break from school and to really figure out how specific I would like to be in my graduate program. On a non-work-related note, I would also like to travel around the country, especially out west, on a big rock climbing/hiking trip at some point.

Name: Kyra Shalikashvili
From: Atlanta, GA
School: Georgia Institute of Technology
Studying: Civil Engineering
Internship Type: Civil Engineering for High Performance Facilities, Greenwood Village Office

Loves hiking, painting, and spending hours in coffee shops sipping on cappuccinos with my friends.

Why did you want to intern at Merrick?
I won’t lie—the opportunity to spend a summer in Denver was definitely one of the most attractive features about Merrick when I first applied (I love this region). As I went through the interview process, however, I was thrilled by everything I was told about this internship program, especially the weekly intern lunch & learns and the goal of having interns do 75% billable work (i.e. not just making copies and fetching coffee all day). Merrick really invests in its interns, which is so cool.

What’s the best part about working at Merrick so far?
So far my favorite part of working at Merrick is the way that my supervisors are entrusting me with legitimate work but also spend lots of time helping me understand all the things about engineering that I’ve never been taught in a class. Plus, everyone who works here speaks so highly of their experience with this company. I love that!

Name: Lindsey Whittington
From: Parker, CO
School: Colorado School of Mines
Studying: Civil Engineering
Internship Type: Land Development for Infrastructure, Greenwood Village Office

Loves golfing, cooking, movies, and spending time with family.

Why did you want to intern at Merrick?
The company values align with my own, the work environment seemed positive, and I wanted to develop my professional skills as an engineer.

What does a typical day at the office look like?
I work mostly on AutoCAD projects for project managers. This often means I’ll have quick meetings with them to outline new work and give them what I’ve completed. In the afternoon my team and I usually go on a walk outside to get fresh air and new scenery.