Career Peer Educators (CPEs)

Name: Carlos Villar

School:

Major: French/Commerce

Graduation Year: 2012

Career aspirations at age 7: Professional soccer player

Career aspirations now: : I would like to enter the consulting business

Favorite UCS program/resource: Walk-ins

Most meaningful/career-defining moment: My most meaningful job experience so far would have to be with my landscaping business in my neighborhood. When I was 13, I started a small lawn maintenance service and offered to mow lawns for some of my neighbors. Today, I have more than 25 regular clients, and I have expanded my services to more than just lawn mowing – I offer fertilizations, weed treatments, etc. I also now do landscaping and garden re-modeling. My experience has helped me develop communication skills with people of different ages and cultures. I have a website, business cards, and work uniforms, and I am now searching for ways to expand my business. Although my main career plans do not involve working in landscaping my entire life, my experience has helped me develop a great work ethic. And who knows? I might formally register my business to make it a large-scale company in the future. This summer I spent 3 months with Balfour Beatty Construction Management interning as a Project Engineer. Construction Management is for the most part just as it sounds: managing construction projects. Project Engineers in a sense are the bridge between trades and the design team. This summer I got to work on a once in a lifetime construction project for the federal government known as New Campus East. This was my first internship, but it exceeded all expectations. I was essentially treated like a full time employee given my own subcontractors to manage and oversee. This entailed setting up and leading meetings, reviewing the architects design specifications with them, and when necessary requesting appropriate changes to these designs. I experienced firsthand how much planning must go into a project before someone can “swing a hammer”. Every subcontractor must have insurance, hazard prevention forms, training, etc completed for them before even setting foot on the site. I learned a great deal about how the construction industry works “behind the scenes” and made contacts that I am sure will serve me well in the near future.

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