ISU students get chance to work on Cardinal Court project

NORMAL — Illinois State University leaders talk of students’ roles in moving the campus forward, but for the Cardinal Court housing construction project three students are doing that in a literal way.

ISU construction management students Alex Brenneman of Spring Bay, Josh Ceroni of Rock Falls and Alaina Reeverts of Belvidere, who will be seniors in the fall, are interns on the nearly $60 million project on Gregory Street near Adelaide Street.

Along the way, they are learning the real-life problem-solving skills a textbook can’t begin to address, said Russ Pande, operations manager for Chicago-based general contractor Weis Builders.

“The text book can only go far. This is about problem resolution, thinking on the spot,” he said.

The 800-bed, apartment-style complex will be built around a small quad and feature a community center with a cafeteria and a home theater.

This summer, on any given day, Ceroni and Brenneman can be found walking the site in hard hats and boots, studying documentation on laptops or poring over site maps. Reeverts had worked at the site in April and May and she’ll return in August.

“They have to do everything — measuring rooms with squares and levels, making sure safety rules are enforced and keeping track of lots of paperwork ,” said Kevin Voda, Weis senior superintendent.

After six weeks on the job, the students have proved themselves worthy of the internships, said Voda.

“It really is a macro view of how it all works, seeing the whole scope, how a dozen trades come together,” Brenneman said of the experience.

The students of ISU faculty member Rick Hahn earned the competitive spots by vying against a dozen other interested upperclassmen.

The construction management program is the most popular track among the six offered through ISU’s technology department, said its chairman, Rick Boser. A third of ISU technology students, about 200, opt for the construction angle.

ISU is one of only three Illinois universities offering such a bachelor’s degree program, said Boser.

A testament to the ISU construction program is 1996 graduate Russ Pande: Fifteen years after graduation, he’s found himself operations manager for nationally known Weis.

Cardinal Court 

The new construction brings a private housing complex to ISU-owned property. Below are details:

-- $59.1 million project offers 800-bed, apartment-style student housing. Set to open August 2012 on Gregory Street, near Adelaide Street.

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