Blog 2

I have now been working as an intern at SERCO for five weeks. The work has been very engaging, challenging, and diverse. The first week was spent watching safety presentations and videos designed to prepare me for the work I would see. The next week began very much the same. I spent Monday and the first half of Tuesday in a class that gave the certification to work inside of the Chevron Phillips and Solvay plants. The second half of Tuesday I was trained to operate a JLG man-lift. Once all my training was completed I started Wednesday with the absolutely riveting assignment of cleaning the insulation shop. That afternoon I would finish off my week by cleaning the carwash station. The next Monday was where the real work began. I was assigned to a job at Chevron’s “flaker building” which makes the additive that gives natural gas its’ distinctive odor. The job was to remove the old, outdated, and crumbling siding and insulation from the building, and then put new siding and insulation on. This job was very physically taxing not only because of the constant presence of fiberglass insulation particles in the air, but also the heavy lifting that had to be done to get the siding where it needed to be. Each morning stared with removing the old siding and taking it to a large, on-site, dumpster. after about a twenty foot section of siding was removed, we would move on to cutting the new peace on insulation. once the piece of insulation was installed, it was usually about time for lunch. After lunch we came back and installed the large panels of metal siding. This was the job that I did for the third and fourth weeks of my internship. This past week I spent Monday through Wednesday pouring concrete footings and steps for a residential construction project. Thus-far I have enjoyed the diversity of my work and not having to stay in the same place every day.