Aqua Illinois Hires DACC Student
Danville Area Community College (DACC)  recruited two more local industries as employers of our engineering students.   Aqua Illinois and the City of Danville have hired several students to work directly with registered engineers.  These jobs are possible with the assistance of the Illinois Cooperative Work Grant which refunds the employer for half of the interns pay.
   Aqua Illinois joined forces with Danville Area Community College and hired Sam Cole, a DACC environmental engineering major.  These new internships are fabulous because they actually give students the opportunity to work directly with engineers and aspects of engineering.  All jobs have students actually doing engineering related duties.
   After working for Aqua for only a few weeks, Sam was excited to report, “I have already gained a lot of valuable experience.”  Sam’s regular duties entail visiting the Aqua construction sites to inspect materials and construction.   These activities are important to his primary function of developing daily construction reports regarding the sites progress.  His reports include descriptions of labor and equipment and even photos of the progress made each day.  Sam states, “Besides staying up to date on current construction, I inspect recent work that has been done, create blueprints of valve locations and fire hydrants and make lists of deficiencies in the project that need to be corrected by the general contractor.”
 This experience has been very valuable for both the company and Sam.  Sam eagerly reports, “It is a privilege as a student to feel that my work is important.  I don’t think that I could have a better experience.”
   Aqua has benefited as well. Sam Cole has been a great employee.  “Sam has been a good intern.  He is very conscientious and hard working.  He understands the construction industry and keeps very good progress reports,” explains Gerard Connelly.  He continues, “I think engineering students are better employees because they are intelligent, hard working and conscientious.  Of course, I have to say this since I am an engineer as well.  We are so pleased with Sam that we are keeping him even when the grant runs out.”

Other Aqua Illinois Hires
Joshua Gabehart was hired at Aqua to replace Sam when he transferred to University of Illinois.  Josh's internship allowed him to work with certified civil engineering and draftmens.  He used AutoCAD and survey skills to create accurate maps of Danville's water system, and in warmer weather, he supervises local consturction, producing daily progress reports.

Brock Gale was recently hired by Aqua Illinois. He in turn replaced Josh who transferred to Southern.  Brock is currently drafting plans for water line improvements within Danville.