For civil engineering student Esmeralda Martinez, internships have been more than a resume booster; they’ve been a proving ground for the skills she’s learning at George Mason University’s College of Engineering and Computing and a launchpad for her career.
Now in her second summer working for HITT Contracting, Martinez has been immersed in the National Geographic Museum of Exploration project for the past couple of months. As a construction intern, she has been coordinating with subcontractors, checking deadlines, reviewing drawings, and jumping in wherever she can to help out and learn.
“It’s been great to see the design work and details going into this project,” said Martinez. “It’s very different from what I was doing last summer, and it’s helped me figure out what I want to do after graduation.”
Her connection to HITT Contracting started by chance. “One of my coworkers at my concierge job asked what I was studying, and when I said civil engineering, she mentioned seeing a lot of HITT signs around,” said Martinez. “I looked them up, liked what I saw, applied, and the next thing I knew, they called me.” That leap landed her an internship last summer, and her performance brought her back for a second year.
Last summer, her internship took her into the fast-paced technology sector, starting from bare dirt at a data center site and watching utilities, framing, and systems take shape. “Seeing a project from the very beginning was really cool,” she said. “And it showed me I’m really interested in the technology sector of construction.”
George Mason coursework has proven useful on the job. Martinez recalls spotting surveyors on-site this summer and drawing directly from class lessons, specifically her geomatics course. “I was able to look at their data and understand it,” she said. “I even showed other interns how to do the equations and a trick my professor showed me.”
In her internships, she’s been exposed to tools she knows she’ll soon encounter in the classroom too. “It’s great to learn different tools and software in action on site, and then I can learn more or different things in future classes,” she said.
Her internships and her time at George Mason have helped her clarify her career direction. She recently accepted a full-time offer from HITT to start as a project engineer after graduation in fall 2026, with the goal of moving into project management. “I really want to be a project manager and a leader on these construction sites. I want to create a welcoming job site where everyone feels valued,” said Martinez. “No job is too small, and subcontractors are the reason these buildings get built.”
From introductory civil engineering classes to managing details on major construction projects, Martinez’s path shows the power of pairing classroom learning with real-world experience—laying a strong foundation for a career in the industry.