From Lego bricks to red bricks and limestone, Patrick Kenney ’18 has always been interested in construction.
“It’s in my blood,” he says.
The physics major and math minor just completed a semester-long internship with Wilhelm Construction, the company currently renovating Martindale Hall.
Kenney is vested in the project’s success for many reasons: As a Wabash student he’s receiving hands-on learning and it gives him the opportunity to shape the look of his campus home. It’s also a reflection of his work as an intern and the company where his father is president.
Now Kenney is spending his second summer working in the office at Wilhelm. “Last summer I did estimating. I actually worked on the budget for Martindale.
“The best part is seeing how it all comes together,” Kenney explains. “A lot goes into it. Lots of problem solving. It might not be in the drawing a certain way, but they have to figure out how to make it work or suggest something different.”
Even without an engineering major he knows Wabash can get him to where he hopes to be.
“I didn’t want to go to a college where they push you through and give you a degree,” he says. “Here they care about what you are doing. I wanted to go where I could get to know the professors well.”