At Vaughn, we aim to provide life-changing opportunities not only for our people, but also for others. One way we do this is by helping educate future leaders in architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) through job site visits and tours. Our team at the Texas Medical Center, TMC3 campus project recently hosted a job site tour for 31 students studying construction science at Texas A&M Texas A&M University (TAMU).
The Texas Medical Center aims to bring leading researchers and top-tier experts from the private sector together at the TMC3 campus to create a world-class center of biotechnology and bioscience innovation. With several projects already underway at varying stages of completion, this tour was a perfect opportunity for the students to view a variety of unique construction techniques.
According to this project’s senior project manager, who helped lead the student tour, “If you’re touring a typical office building, you’re going to see a standard foundation system, structure, and skin. Here at TMC3, you’re going to see everything from really deep utilities and a unique detention tank system to the process of putting in all the utility and infrastructure with roadways, gardens, and streetscapes.”
He continued, “All these site visits expose [students] to different aspects of construction, but this job in particular is a once-in-a-career opportunity for all our Vaughn staff. It’s a really neat project to showcase to these students. We get to show them the cool stuff Vaughn builds and get them excited about the jobs they might have in the future.”
But before we began the official tour of our TMC3 projects, we gave the TAMU students a preview of the buildings and a brief look into how we organize our projects. To ensure students would make the most out of the in-person tour, we provided an overview of all the projects we visited—including the unique features to look out for. Several members of our project team also shared a little more about their roles and how they fit into the project setting.
During the main tour, our team led students through the Parcel C Collaborative Building, Parcel D Industry Building, and Site Development projects and gave the students an overview of the Parcel I Parking Garage project.
“We dove into three different types of buildings: a low-rise, high-end finish building; a high-rise, core-in-shell research building; and then a cast-in-place parking garage that sits over detention tanks,” the senior project manager said. “[These students] aren’t going to get that kind of exposure anywhere else in the city right now.” After the tour, our project team members ate lunch with the students and gave them additional opportunities to ask questions.
These tours provide students with valuable opportunities to see the techniques they are learning about reflected in the real world, but they also benefit our project teams, who genuinely enjoy helping these students learn. When asked about his favorite aspect of giving tours like this one, the same senior project manager replied, “I really like answering their questions and letting them get to know us and the intricacies of what the various positions on a project do. School kind of gives you a perspective of what they do and some definitions, but I enjoy talking through what I do day in and day out with those students.”
We appreciate all the TAMU students who participated in the Texas Medical Center, TMC3 campus project tour, and we look forward to hosting more students soon!
To learn more about the opportunities Vaughn Construction offers, click here.