App State celebrated the completion of the Holmes Drive Parking Deck on Aug. 22, a project completed by New Atlantic Contracting, which employed one of App State’s own, Dylan Reed.
Reed graduated from App State in May with a degree in construction management after completing an internship with New Atlantic. During his internship, he worked on the Holmes Drive Parking Deck. He now works full time for the company as an on-site project engineer.
Reed said he reached out to New Atlantic in October, with the hope being that they would allow him to work on-site. New Atlantic is based in Winston-Salem, where he’s from.
“I was able to balance school and work at the same time,” Reed said. “I was working a little less than 30 hours a week plus a full schedule of school. It was truly a blessing that they gave me a shot like that.”
For Reed, an internship was required for his degree.
“I’m glad App State requires an internship for construction management majors like me because you really get to learn so much in such a small amount of time,” Reed said.
Reed’s internship adviser, Rita Joyner, said he was one of her first students at App State, this being her second year with the school. Joyner said that her and Reed “hit it off,” with Reed making it a point to say hello to her when he saw her, calling her by her nickname, “Dr. J.”
“Scrappy, resilient, intelligent, hardworking, enthusiastic, and kind, those are our students. That’s what Dylan brings to the table for just being who he is, but also what he represents when he goes out to New Atlantic and wherever his next adventures are going to be,” Joyner said.
Now, Reed is working on a project in Virginia with New Atlantic to expand a manufacturing building for Press Glass, a glass manufacturing company in Poland. Reed said that New Atlantic built the original building five years ago, and what they’re now working on is a 250,000 square foot structurally steel warehouse. The space is meant to house the company’s equipment.
For the current project Reed is working on, he’s working 45 hours a week on-site with the superintendent. He said a big part of his job is safety, including safety logs and job site orientation.
“I do a lot more paperwork,” Reed said. “More emails, more paperwork, more drawing reviews and submittals and stuff like that.”
Reed said his goal is to move up in the chain of a command, the next step being assistant superintendent.
“Basically, I’m trying to become a superintendent, so I just take up more and more tasks until five, 10 years down the future, when they do promote me, I’ll know how to do all of these tasks,” Reed said.
Reed said his favorite part of the job is seeing projects come together and having something new everyday.
“Obviously I’m going to the same site everyday, but anything could happen,” Reed said. “It could be a really chill day and you’re there for eight hours or it could be you’re there busting your butt for 12 hours that day, you know. I really like the change in pace, I think that’s the best.”
Reed said that he received a lot of help from App State professors Joe Crocker and William Klein. Crocker teaches Construction Methods 1 and Building Services.
“Dylan was a very good student of mine,” Crocker wrote in an email. “I enjoyed having him in class.”
