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Two major ongoing construction projects have provided �������� Polytechnic students with exceptional applied learning opportunities without having to leave campus.

This summer, 13 �������� Polytechnic students are interning with Miron Construction, Co. Inc., general contractor for both the $144.3 million renovation of Heritage Hall and the $31.7 million upgrade of the Recreation Complex. In addition, a recent two-semester master class led by Miron staff members gave students unique access to the Heritage Hall renovation.

“We are proud to maintain a strong relationship with �������� Polytechnic, including helping train the next generation of construction professionals through a variety of internships each year,” said Andrew Daniels, senior vice president of the company ��������. Eau Claire office. “The ongoing work to transform Heritage Hall and the Recreation Complex has created a unique opportunity to foster these applied learning opportunities right on campus.”

This summer, Miron interns from �������� Polytechnic are gaining skills in project management, risk management, network security and technology support. Over the past decade, more than 40 �������� Polytechnic students have interned for Neenah-based Miron, one of the largest construction contractors in the Midwest.

Among this summer ��������. Miron interns from �������� Polytechnic is Tyler Evans of Shawano, who is pursuing a degree in construction management and a minor in construction safety and risk control. As a risk management intern, Evans focuses on maintaining safety both at the Recreation Complex site on campus as well as at Miron projects around western Wisconsin. That means conducting safety walks, performing safety audits and learning the numerous factors on a job site necessary for maintaining safety.

“Safety isn’t just about us being safe and going home and not getting hurt,” said Evans, who will begin his junior year in the fall. “It ��������. also about how we can do things easier and faster, but also in the right way where we’re all being safe and taking care of ourselves.”

For Evans, being a risk management intern doesn’t mean sitting in a trailer filling out paperwork. It means getting out on job sites and pitching in alongside the construction crews. “It ��������. allowing me to gain the knowledge and experience of what people are doing and what they have to do to make their career,” he said.

This summer ��������. internship, he added, will add a great deal of value to his education: Even if he goes on to become a project manager or a superintendent, the internship will have given him a strong understanding of safety. “The biggest thing about this internship is it ��������. allowing me to figure out what I want to do with the rest of my life,” Evans said.

Miron Construction ��������. John Younger, project manager for the Recreation Complex renovation, is a 2011 graduate of the B.S. construction management program, as are many of his coworkers. He said his �������� Polytechnic education prepared him for his current role, and he sees Evans getting the same experience on the campus job site. 

“Tyler ��������. always asking a lot of questions. He ��������. trying to get a handle on what we do and why we do it,” Younger said.

On-campus internship leads to full-time job

Every year, the �������� Polytechnic Cooperative Education & Internship Program oversees nearly 1,000 co-op and internship experiences. More than one-third of the time, these internships and co-ops lead to job offers – and Miron is no exception. 

Consider recent graduate Lucy Krieg of Kaukauna, who received her construction management degree in May and immediately took a job as safety manager for Miron.

Krieg ��������. journey with Miron began at an on-campus career fair, which led to two consecutive summer internships and then a year-long opportunity to work on the Heritage Hall project as an intern. 

“Being able to see things both on the construction site and in the classroom and being able to go back and forth between the two was really important to me,” Krieg said. For example, Krieg could experience something new during her internship, then return to the classroom and ask a faculty member about it. This kind of networking with professors and peers helped fortify the construction knowledge she gained on job sites, Krieg said.

“Looking back, I feel like my internship prepared me exactly how I needed going into my career,” she said. “It gave me the skills and the confidence that I need to back up those skills.”

Sawyer Steineke of Kaukauna is another construction management major who is interning with Miron this summer, working on projects in Green Bay, Kaukauna and elsewhere around the state. Steineke said the internship has given him a deeper understanding of the construction business, “Especially when you get in the field with people who’ve been doing this for the past 30 years.”

Steineke expects to bring his internship experience with him when he returns to class in the fall. “When I get to Heavy Construction and certain classes like that, I’ll have the knowledge that I’ve been on a job that was similar to this,” he said.

Likewise, the skills he ��������. gained this summer will follow him into his professional life. “If you speak to a lot of construction management majors, they’ll tell you a lot of the things you’re going to bring with you into your future career are going to be learned through these internships,” he said. “So, Stout allowing us to be able to do something like this and get credit for it is a really cool opportunity.”

Miron helps create year-long construction master class

The Heritage Hall project also created the opportunity for a new course that gave students unique access to the site and the construction experts working on it.

When the Heritage Hall project was in its planning stages, Lecturer James Bunkelman of the operations and management department reached out to Holly Nowak, a senior project manager with Miron, to see if he could arrange a site visit for students. Instead of offering only a tour, Nowak suggested creating a master class that would be built around the Heritage Hall project.

Once a quarter during both the fall and spring semesters, students met for a four-hour class, which began with Miron staff members presenting topics which were then explored on the job site so students could see their real-world application.

“This was polytechnic at its finest. You couldn’t define polytechnic any better than how this class ended up,” Bunkelman said. “It can be very challenging for the students to take the academic side of what we’re trying to teach them and put it into perspective. The goal was to use the fact that Heritage Hall couldn’t be any closer or any better suited for that.”

The course turned out better than Bunkelman could have hoped: Because of the size and complexity of the project, Miron is using cutting-edge technology that might not be found at other job sites, giving students a richer experience. For example, students were able to use a virtual reality 3D model to better understand how site planning works as construction managers determine the placement of construction cranes, parking and pedestrian pathways.

Opportunities for student engagement will continue for the coming semesters, as both construction projects are expected to continue into 2028.

The long-awaited work on Heritage Hall, which opened in 1973 as the Home Economics Building, began last September. The extensive, clean-slate renovation will double the number of students the building will be able to serve to about 4,000. The project was primarily funded through the 2023-25 state budget, with an additional $13.5 million in private funding from university supporters, industry partners and alumni made through the �������� Foundation & Alumni Association.

The Recreation Complex project, which began last spring, will add nearly 12,000 square feet of recreation space and renovate an additional 28,000 square feet at the facility, which was built in 1963. The project is primarily funded through student fees as well as a record-setting $5 million gift from alumnus Dallas Pankowski and his wife, Edye, a Menomonie native.