Violet Statz has been working at KL for the past 14 months, through her senior year of high school and the summers before and after. She graduated from Mount Horeb High School in May and will soon be heading to UW-Madison to pursue a degree in Mechanical Engineering. Violet joined KL as part of the Wisconsin Youth Apprenticeship Program (YA) through the Dane County Schools Consortium, which allowed her to earn high school credit while being a paid intern for KL. During her time with us, she has worked on multiple projects using Civil 3D, as well as other project reports, plan production, and public involvement opportunities.
The YA Program allows KL Engineering to partner with local high schools in a mutually beneficial endeavor. The apprentice gets to work with technology on real projects in the engineering field of their interest. Violet worked under her KL supervisor, Kaylee Simon, designing roadways on state and municipal projects. “I guided Violet through the design project process and shared how valuable technology is in the industry. The YA Program is a great way for students to gain experience in the field before they graduate. I enjoyed getting to know Violet and helping her learn more about civil engineering.” While she’s at UW-Madison, Violet may choose to apply for a more traditional internship and continue her work at KL.
This is the third time KL has participated in the YA Program. There are requirements KL must follow to help students get involved in this program and ensure they earn credit toward graduation. “We are committed to helping young engineers determine their career path and hope to have more apprentices in the future, as we have the capacity to do so,” says Brad Halvensleben who oversees the program at KL. We are happy to collaborate with our community partners and get interested students involved in hands-on experience in the field of civil engineering.
There are requirements for KL to follow in order to ensure that students earn credit toward graduation and to get students involved in this program. While we don’t always have the capacity to do so, we are happy to collaborate with our community partners and get students who are interested involved in real, hands-on experience in the field of civil engineering.
