Nearly eight years ago, George Washington University rising senior Thompson Hunt built a 3-foot tall replica of the famed Sears Tower—now Willis Tower—out of thousands of Legos.
The classic toy building pieces are a fond childhood memento for many people, but for Mr. Hunt, now a civil engineering major in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, they were an inspiration.
“Legos are the cornerstone of my interest in engineering,” Mr. Hunt said. “As a kid I was always playing with Legos, building things and learning how things work.”
This summer, Mr. Hunt traded plastic blocks for bricks and mortar as an intern for Clark Construction Group, a locally grown company with 4,200 employees nationwide. Clark Construction is the firm behind the renovation of GW’s LEED- gold certified Ross Hall and the Science and Engineering Hall, a project that broke ground in 2011 and reached the highest point of completion—known as topping out—last December.
Clark Construction is a subsidiary of Clark Enterprises Inc. CEO and Board Chairman A. James Clark, a former GW trustee and 2010 honorary degree recipient, donated $8 million to GW to establish the Clark Engineering Scholars Program in 2011.
The merit-based scholarship program honors a cohort of SEAS undergraduate students who are selected each year based on recommendations from the SEAS dean, SEAS alumni, practicing engineers and faculty for their exemplary academic performance, engagement in engineering and leadership skills.
“Seeing Clark Construction’s presence at GW, I knew this was the company that I wanted to be a part of,” Mr. Hunt said. “Since freshman year, personnel came to my classes and took the students on tours of the Science and Engineering Hall site. Those were my first experiences with construction, so this internship was number one in my mind.”
Mr. Hunt began his internship in June, working with a group of 50 subcontractors to complete City Market at O, a mixed-use facility located at O and 8th streets in D.C.’s historic Shaw neighborhood. Mr. Hunt said that he was struck by the level of collaboration that went into the project.
“It takes 10 different contractors to put in a bathroom and make sure that everything is installed correctly and there are hundreds of units, so we are doing the process over and over again,” Mr. Hunt said. “We are all working together to reach the same end point and getting there is a huge team effort.”
A Connecticut native, Mr. Hunt grew up working on small carpentry projects with his father, making “anything you can build and use.” He developed a fascination with stick building in high school, a term that refers to homes and other buildings that are built piece-by-piece out of wood , rather than pre-assembled in a factory.
“I knew pretty early on in high school that I wanted to pursue engineering,” Mr. Hunt said. “I enjoy civil engineering because there is a physical aspect and out in the field at the construction site, I get to see tangible results.”
Mr. Hunt said that SEAS courses on technical drawing and engineering statics—which focus on the effect of outside forces on a building’s structural integrity— reaffirmed his decision to pursue engineering and encouraged him to declare a concentration in structural engineering.
“Everyone has their own GW experience and there is no traditional way to be a student at the university. My experience has been to do it all."
- Thompson Hunt, SEAS senior and intern at Clark Construction Group
“A lot of people in my classes thought statics was boring but I loved the idea of being able to build a model of a bridge and assess how the entire bridge will react to outside forces,” he said.
Mr. Hunt said that he aspires to start his own engineering company, but first he’d like to intern at a design firm.
“I love working on smaller projects and interning with a design firm would be an opportunity to use my imagination to see what I can create,” Mr. Hunt said.
Mr. Hunt added that his current internship has allowed him to see the intricate level of detail that goes into managing a building after design, especially since construction moves at a rapid pace.
In May, City Market at O reached substantial completion—meaning 90 percent of the space can be occupied. Since then, three more floors have been completed so that people can move in.
“We have tons of drawings of every single floor and room but we still go back and say, ‘How can we change this and how can we make it better?’” he said. “Things move fast and if you take a week off, you come back to a completely different job site.”
Mr. Hunt said that he welcomed the challenge of tackling his first internship in a field where he had little experience beyond academic study. He has also pursued a number of extracurricular activities and serves as a campus tour guide, vice president of the GW chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers, treasurer of GW’s Society of American Military Engineers and captain of the men’s ultimate Frisbee team.
He always attends the annual student organization fair at the start of each semester to find new ways to get involved on campus.
“Everyone has their own GW experience and there is no traditional way to be a student at the university,” Mr. Hunt said. “My experience has been to do it all, even things that I didn’t necessarily know a lot about or know that I would enjoy doing, because now, they are a big and positive part of my life.”