College of Education and Behavioral Sciences News
McKnight explores civil engineering with summer internship
- Alicia Carter
- Monday, July 10th, 2023
Exploring a future career field while staying close to home? Keeley McKnight is doing it!
A rising junior at WKU, McKnight is spending her summer as a civil engineering intern at Vantage Engineering, PLC, in Harrodsburg, KY.
“I wanted to get a scope of what civil engineering looks like in practice. I applied to Vantage hoping to learn the profession of surveying and site design from some engineers close to my hometown,” McKnight shared.
Whether behind the computer screen or venturing out into the field, McKnight is gaining hands-on experience with the preparation that happens before construction starts.
“A major part of my internship is site grading and drainage. I use AutoCAD with Carlson to plan out and control where water will drain to on a site. This involves a lot of different strategies to prevent flooding, like basin calculations, adjusting ground and pavement slopes, and using engineering knowledge to create ditches and other drainage features,” McKnight explained.
“I also work on preparing plats. Plats are maps to serve a purpose for construction and involve a lot of research and preparation.”
She’s already seeing the benefits of her internship - both for the summer and beyond.
“I’ve learned about the design process for tons of different site conditions as well as doing prep-work for the developers. Being able to work on real projects helps me not only prepare for life after school, but it’s also helping me develop some soft skills, such as communications and time management.”
McKnight recommends hands-on internship experiences to her fellow classmates as well.
“Getting involved an internship gives you more resources and knowledge to help make connections from your job to schoolwork and vice versa. This will lead to an overall stronger learning experience.”
Learn more about WKU's Civil Engineering program within the WKU School of Applied Sciences: https://www.wku.edu/ce/
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