Blueprint shows construction site to interns

Blueprint

Expanding educational opportunities for students in under-resourced communities

A Day at the Swinerton Site

by

Who did you meet with today?

Today we met with Aaron Carruth, Samantha Kleinschmidt, Aolan Chen, Kristina Poliseri, and Garrett Fawley, who all work at Swinerton. We also met with Eric Swenson, who is representing one of our sponsors, Cal Geo.

Where do they work? What does the company do?

They work at Swinerton. Swinerton is a construction company that provides a variety of services for commercial offices, retail, multi-family residential, hospitality, healthcare, education, energy, and the entertainment sectors.

What did you learn today? What were some highlights?

Today I learned more about building in case of earthquakes and how they were able to remodel a building from the 1940s to have better resistance against earthquakes with concrete. A highlight was going inside of the main building of the school and seeing the vision for the site under construction.

What insights did you gain into the field of real estate development?

An insight I gained was seeing how a building from the 1940s could be reused and improved; they are also improving the design by removing interior hallways and adding exterior hallways for more classroom space, maximizing the use of their building and reinforcing it.

What did you find the most interesting about the field in the field after today?

What I found the most interesting about the field after being inside the site is how the site’s environment changes with more people working in it. We went to the site when it was somewhat empty. I wonder how much noise there would be and how people would be moving around on the site, considering the safety rules. When we were going over the safety rules, there was a lot of noise; we were able to see workers coming in and out of the site.

A group of people wearing orange safety vests and white hard hats stand together at a Swinerton construction site, with scaffolding and a partially built structure in the background under a sunny sky.
Blueprint staff and interns with Swinerton team and CalGeo at Cox Academy construction site.
A group of people wearing orange safety vests and white hard hats stand on a sidewalk near a Swinerton construction site, listening to a woman speaking. A fence, signs, and trees are visible in the background—a day in the life on site.
Blueprint interns listening to Swinerton team outside the construction site.
A group of people wearing hard hats and safety vests stand inside a partially constructed Swinerton building, listening to a speaker. It's a typical day in the life on a construction site, with equipment outside and sunlight streaming through the open side.
Blueprint interns on the walk through inside the building site.
Construction workers in safety gear observe a busy construction site, surrounded by equipment, ladders, and materials on a sunny day at work.
Blueprint interns and team walking outside the building under construction at Cox.
A group of people wearing hard hats and orange safety vests stand on a dirt pathway at a Swinerton construction site, surrounded by buildings, scaffolding, and construction materials under a sunny sky.
Wrapping up the walk through at the construction site.
A group of people wearing orange safety vests and white hard hats stand together at a Swinerton construction site, with scaffolding and a partially built structure in the background under a sunny sky.

A Day at the Swinerton Site

April 2, 2026

By Danae Esparza, Spring Intern

Who did you meet with today?

Today we met with Aaron Carruth, Samantha Kleinschmidt, Aolan Chen, Kristina Poliseri, and Garrett Fawley, who all work at Swinerton. We also met with Eric Swenson, who is representing one of our sponsors, Cal Geo.

Where do they work? What does the company do?

They work at Swinerton. Swinerton is a construction company that provides a variety of services for commercial offices, retail, multi-family residential, hospitality, healthcare, education, energy, and the entertainment sectors.

What did you learn today? What were some highlights?

Today I learned more about building in case of earthquakes and how they were able to remodel a building from the 1940s to have better resistance against earthquakes with concrete. A highlight was going inside of the main building of the school and seeing the vision for the site under construction.

What insights did you gain into the field of real estate development?

An insight I gained was seeing how a building from the 1940s could be reused and improved; they are also improving the design by removing interior hallways and adding exterior hallways for more classroom space, maximizing the use of their building and reinforcing it.

What did you find the most interesting about the field in the field after today?

What I found the most interesting about the field after being inside the site is how the site's environment changes with more people working in it. We went to the site when it was somewhat empty. I wonder how much noise there would be and how people would be moving around on the site, considering the safety rules. When we were going over the safety rules, there was a lot of noise; we were able to see workers coming in and out of the site.

A group of people wearing orange safety vests and white hard hats stand together at a Swinerton construction site, with scaffolding and a partially built structure in the background under a sunny sky.
Blueprint staff and interns with Swinerton team and CalGeo at Cox Academy construction site.

A group of people wearing orange safety vests and white hard hats stand on a sidewalk near a Swinerton construction site, listening to a woman speaking. A fence, signs, and trees are visible in the background—a day in the life on site.
Blueprint interns listening to Swinerton team outside the construction site.

A group of people wearing hard hats and safety vests stand inside a partially constructed Swinerton building, listening to a speaker. It's a typical day in the life on a construction site, with equipment outside and sunlight streaming through the open side.
Blueprint interns on the walk through inside the building site.

Construction workers in safety gear observe a busy construction site, surrounded by equipment, ladders, and materials on a sunny day at work.
Blueprint interns and team walking outside the building under construction at Cox.

A group of people wearing hard hats and orange safety vests stand on a dirt pathway at a Swinerton construction site, surrounded by buildings, scaffolding, and construction materials under a sunny sky.
Wrapping up the walk through at the construction site.

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