From 19-year-old sophomores Nija Threat and Riley Bethmann to 61-year-old senior Dan Throneberry, nearly 60 MTSU School of Concrete and Construction Management students of all ages participated in the Speed Interviewing Day for internships with industry partners.

Companies from across the South and Midwest sent representatives to interview 45 Concrete Industry Management and 12 construction management students Thursday (March 2) in the James Union Building’s Tennessee Room.

MTSU senior Concrete Industry Management major Chase Phillips, left, of Roswell, Ga., shakes hands with the Wirtgen Group’s Hunter Harber, right, as Josh Wilson, center, and Jeff Johnson watch. Phillips was wrapping up his six-minute speed interview with the company March 2 in the James Union Building’s Tennessee Room. (MTSU photos by J. Intintoli)

School of Concrete and Construction Management marketing coordinator Nicole Green schedules sessions such as this to help MTSU students land summer internships and gain interview experience for possible full-time employment.

“It’s gone exceptionally well,” Green said. “This will result in a lot of internships for the summer.”

Threat, a sophomore from Chattanooga, Tennessee, called the six-minute sessions with 20 company reps awesome.

“I have been offered so many opportunities,” Threat said. “It strengthens you for interviews. It shows you your flaws. You sit with different people. Nobody has the same demeanor. … No one here is not going to get an internship or a job.”

Throneberry, who owns his own construction company but returned to college to earn a concrete degree, called it “an eye-opening experience.”

“These people (in industry) are excited about what MTSU is providing,” Throneberry, who expects to graduate with his CIM degree in 2018, said of the quality of students the program is producing. “And it makes so much sense.”

St. Louis, Missouri-based Breckenridge Material Co., the Wirtgen Group, Blue Dot Readi-Mix of Charlotte, North Carolina and Votorantim Cimentos/Prestige Concrete Products of Orlando, Florida, and Bridgeview, Illinois, were among the companies represented at the event.

— Randy Weiler (Randy.Weiler@mtsu.edu)

MTSU junior Todazja Doty of Memphis, Tenn., responds to questions about her MTSU Concrete Industry Management experience from Austin Walker, left, and Lyle Boardman, who work for Blue Dot Readi-Mix in Charlotte, N.C. The exchange occurred March 2 during the MTSU School of Concrete and Construction Speed Interviewing Day for internship opportunities.

Logan Thigpen, right, an MTSU junior from Murfreesboro, receives advice from MTSU senior Everett Dunlap of Knoxville, Tenn., as Breckenridge Material Co. recruiters Ryan Bohon and Barb Palmer listen. Breckenridge has hired Dunlap to work full time. Thigpen is seeking an internship.