TESTIMONIALS

Hunter Whitten

To me this project helped me grow not only as a future PM, but also as a leader. I was able to gain invaluable experience dealing with suppliers and owners. We had to redesign our bridge at one point and this allowed me to learn how the process goes of change orders goes in the real world. I believe that this service learning project is one of the most beneficial class exercises I have been a part of to date.

Sam Edwards

Building this bridge taught me a lot about the construction process and was great hands on experience. The main thing that I learned was that you must always plan for more time than you think is necessary. We had planned to finish the job in only a few work days, but we ended up putting in over 28 total work hours. We had to adapt to a changing situation because originally we planned on a much shorter ramp, but because of building codes we had to extend the ramp on both sides. Because of the changes, we had to remodel the project and added a lot more work. However, the bridge ended up being a very strong and much larger than expected.

Pat Williamson

This project was a good eye opener for all of us. This project required more discipline than our group was expecting and presented multiple challenges along the way that we needed to see for future purposes. It was a good wake up call for us as students that don’t have a lot of experience in the field yet because we saw the hard work and effort it takes to be elite in this program. I learned that problems can occur all the time during a busy process on a project and to continue you have to learn how to work it out with your group to get the job done.

Joe Jorgensen

I really learned a lot completing this project. Thanks to Hunter and Frank's leadership, our group really stayed on task and built a very structurally sound bridge. Obviously we ran into a couple problems throughout the contruction process, but having 9 guys out there using creative problem solving, we should really be proud of the work we accomplished. Prior to this assignment I never really realized the importance of the grain on each wood member; Professor Hosey taught us a very valuable lesson when we were installing our 2x6 handrails so we could prevent the wood from warping into a "cupping" flex.

Frank Daniel

I feel like this project was a lot more challenging than we had originally thought it would be. With that said, I believe that it was a great learning experience. With every new problem that would arise we were able to think of a solution in a matter of minutes. This group showed great work ethic and a yearning to learn. They also showed great problem solving skills that helped ensure this projects completion. It was an honor working with this group.

Shawn Blakely

After fully completing this project, I value it much more than I had first intended. This project gave me a lot of experience and a much better understanding of what all goes into a project. I gained good hands on experience for myself and learned how to work as a group to come up with a finished product.

Patrick Collins

Working on the bridge really showed me how to problem solve. The bridge seemed to be a fairly straightforward structure in the pre-construction process, but the various problems that complicated the project made the job take much longer. However, those problems challenged my mind to work out and solve the problem without too much sacrifice on the project as a whole.

Gray "Gary" Rochester

This project taught me a lot about building structures and overcoming challenges. We originally thought this would be an easy job to finish but we found many challenges throughout the job. Having great leaders like Frank and Hunter helped us work together as a team and come up with solutions that I never would have thought of on my own. Originally the boards were bending when we installed all of the planks. I thought this was going to be a serious issue but with a team effort we put 2x4 bracing in place that eliminated this problem.

John McCleskey

While completing this project, I learned that working sequentially through a project is important while having a solid plan in place to get the job completed on time. While we were still putting final touches on the bridge frame, I cut the walk boards for decking on the bridge. I had to measure and cut each board individually because the concrete pillars were slightly out of line. I enjoyed this job because I was able to see the bridge come together piece by piece. It is important to know that plans may need to change to accomodate unforseen circumstances. (Like the misalignment of the pre-set concrete pilars). It was also good to be working for a bigger purpose by building something that will be used by others.