Meet the OPP Interns - Kaine Gerry-Ofor

Kaine Gerry-Ofor is an upcoming senior here at Penn State and is majoring in architectural engineering. He is interning at OPP as a contract administration intern under Vern Davis.

Q: What made you choose to come to Penn State?

Kaine: When I was looking for colleges, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do exactly. My dad is a civil engineer, so I was thinking along the lines of that. I also have artistic tendencies, so I wanted to design a little bit. When I started researching, I found out about architectural engineering. Penn State is actually pretty much the best school in that field.

Q: How did you hear about the position you applied for?

Kaine: One of the teachers in my construction class, Craig Dubler, mentioned it. I went and looked it up and applied. I was looking for something in this area because I'm pretty much here year-round.

Q: Describe the main project(s) you are working on for OPP.

Kaine: Right now, I'm taking care of punch lists. What I've been doing the past week is taking pictures of the specks from mechanical equipment to make sure it's the right stuff. We upload that in to BIM. Also, at OPP we get requests from contractors to be on the University’s prequalified bidders list. Some people are already on it, but they have to be renewed. I go through that and approve them if they meet the requirements.

Q: Can you describe your typical work day?

Kaine: I get in each morning and check all of my emails. We have intern programs too, so I check all of those. I check the emails for contract administration and then I go through them. There's usually a lot. After I do the ones that came in, I clear the inbox. We also have to go through Tririga and figure out the people that haven't renewed in the past years. I've been getting out emails to them and they've been getting back to me, so I've been pretty busy with that. From time to time I might go out with Vern because he also does a lot of the diversity stuff with external contractors. I go out with him to meet some of the women-owned companies or the minority-owned companies.

Q: What has your internship prepared you for thus far? 

Kaine: Well, right away I was given a lot of responsibility. I feel like that's a good experience to have. Also, I feel like it's prepared me for interacting with a lot of different kinds of people. Like I said, Vern is contractor liaison here, so he has to communicate a lot between OPP and the contractors we work with. There's also a lot of conflict resolution. It's prepared me for that going into the industry.

Q: If you participated, talk about your experience with Special Olympics. What was the most rewarding part?

Kaine: It was fun. One of the days we had to help go to the YMCA to spot for people that were doing lifting and to see their routine. Actually, that day, the trainer of one of the participants said her personal best was 95 pounds and that day she did 120. It was cool seeing her break that record right there in front of us. The participants have aspirations just like us.

Q: After reflecting on your internship, would you recommend this experience to others?

Kaine: Definitely, especially because it's on campus. You can actually do this and take classes at the same time. OPP works with every other contractor on campus. You could end up working with so many different companies and that's a good way to build your resume in a short period of time. I would recommend it.