Will Holbrook Shadowing McGill Employees

Hickory High School junior student, Will Holbrook, is spending six weeks with different McGill employees as part of the Leadership 2000…and Beyond, a job shadowing program at the local high school. Through this job shadowing opportunity, he is learning about five key engineering disciplines, including civil, water / wastewater, environmental, electrical, and land planning and recreation.

As any high school student, Will is trying to figure out his passion. He enjoys both math and science, which are also his strongest subjects in school, and is excited about the opportunity of utilizing both through engineering. As far as what discipline he has enjoyed shadowing the most, Will said it was a hard choice but chose water and wastewater because of how much he has learned from it: “The engineer that I shadowed showed me that the water we use goes on a cycle of water treatment from some source of water, a water distribution system, a wastewater collection system that goes into a wastewater plant and then back into another body of water.”

 

 

We asked Will about his experience shadowing McGill staff so far:

1. What are you most excited about learning?

I am looking forward to learning about what an electrical engineer does. I know that I use electricity everyday, but I have no idea how it works.

2. What is the main reason you choose to shadow engineers?

The main reason why I choose to shadow engineers is because they incorporate math and science into their field of work and those two subjects also happen to be my strongest and most favorite subjects to learn about in school.

3.  In detail can you talk about what you are learning?

In order to do civil engineering projects, engineers use AutoCAD to draw out the steps that need to be taken through pictures and annotations. They also have to figure out the costs of their projects by using quotes on the resources and services they need.

4. Have you learned anything that is totally surprising?

The amount of specifications required for a project are far more than what I expected.

5. What discipline have you enjoyed shadowing the most so far and why?

This is hard to choose, but I have enjoyed shadowing the water and wastewater discipline so far because of how much I have learned. The engineer that I shadowed showed me that the water we use goes on a cycle of water treatment from some source of water, a water distribution system, a wastewater collection system that goes into a wastewater plant and then back into another body of water.

Contact McGill About Shadowing Opportunities

If you are a junior in high school and interested in shadowing at McGill, please email us at info@mcgillassociates.com or call  844.448.4333 to learn more. Other high school’s interested in working with McGill to provide shadowing opportunities to their students are also encouraged to contact us.