Franklin Regional seniors gain experience as interns on Sloan 'elementary campus' project

Jake Sciorilli spent some of his early years at Sloan Elementary School.

But when the 17-year-old Murrysville resident walked through the doors again recently, he didn’t recognize much.

“It was pretty crazy to see all of the changes that happened inside the building,” he said.

Sciorilli and fellow senior Kyle Albright, 18, are interns with Massaro Construction Management Services, the construction manager on the Sloan campus project that will see Franklin Regional’s elementary students learning in either the renovated Sloan Elementary or the brand-new intermediate building going up next door.

Albright pursued the internship thanks to a recent interest in architecture.

“What fascinates me the most is the design aspect,” he said. “I’m more of the ‘art’ type of person, into the design and how things look. But with this internship, I get to see both the design part and what goes into the actual building itself.”

Albright spends between three and five hours per week working alongside Massaro project manager Mike Gona. “Whatever he’s doing that day, we kind of get to follow along and sort of shadow him,” Albright said.

Albright and Sciorilli also update a Massaro database with information from different contractors on the project and work on internal requests for information, or RFIs, which spell out all the big and small details of an aspect of the building project.

“After that, we usually go and walk the building with Mike and see all the progress that’s being made,” Sciorilli said. “I’ve never had any experience like this with construction. Everything is basically new, which you don’t tend to come across very often.”

Albright said he’s enjoyed watching the construction process itself.

“I like getting to see all the work they’ve put into the buildings and getting to interact with some of the guys who work there,” he said. “It’s nice getting a feel for how things are, what they’re all doing.”

Gona said the seniors “are both very interested in learning.”

Albright and Sciorilli are just the latest Franklin Regional students to intern for Massaro, although they are the first to have a chance to work at a job site in their school district.

Massaro project manager Nancy Gorgas said the company has worked with Franklin Regional staff for a number of years to place student interns at job sites in the region. Internship coordinator Jeff Stanczak set a goal of introducing students to trade-industry jobs earlier in their education, with an emphasis on the affordability of post-secondary schooling and the type of wages trade workers can expect to earn from their first day on the job.

While Albright’s primary interest lies in architecture, and Sciorilli said he is planning to pursue a mechanical engineering degree, both said the internship has been valuable.

“I still have my my mind set on becoming a mechanical engineer after high school, but if it turns out to be something I don’t enjoy, then construction or construction management is definitely up there on the list of careers to pursue,” Sciorilli said.