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Endowment Intern Recommits to Home Building Career
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Marlone Walters, center, of Prairie View A&M University, at a Pulte Homes job site in the Washington, D.C. area | Marlone Walters, a senior at Prairie View A&M University in Prairie View, Texas, and one of two students attending an eight-week internship at NAHB in Washington, D.C., said he learned enough about residential construction during the program to understand “the significant role that NAHB plays in supporting the industry.”
Walters said his internship has given him “insight into the many trends, issues and challenges that home builder face as the industry continuously evolves.”
Along with Alex Beckman, a senior at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colo., Walters participated in NAHB’s second Residential Construction Leadership/Internship Program funded by the National Housing Endowment ― a special internship for students attending universities funded by the Homebuilding Education Leadership Program (HELP).
Through the program, Walters learned about legal, legislative and regulatory issues that affect the building industry. He also learned about building products and management best practices while interning for a week at the NAHB Research Center.
Walters said he learned a lot about NAHB and the services it provides to its members. “I may not know everything as an aspiring builder, but for things I don’t know, NAHB is a good resource for its members that informs, educates and advocates on issues that matter most.”
As part of the internship, Walters also worked for six weeks at a Pulte Homes community in the Washington, D.C. area. The hands-on experience gave Walters “a glimpse into the qualities that make a successful home builder and those qualities will serve as guiding principles for me when I become a builder.”
Walters said he plans to take what he learned over the summer to help his classmates with the annual NAHB Student Chapter Residential Construction Management Competition at the 2010 International Builders’ Show in Las Vegas on Jan. 19-22 He has already shared what he has learned about the NAHB National Green Building Standards with many of his classmates and professors.
“I am very proud of these two young men,” said Gary Garczynski, endowment chairman and 2002 NAHB president. “They are both excited about working in our industry and, over the summer, they took advantage of a great opportunity with this internship to learn more about housing and our wonderful association.”
“By supporting programs like this internship and the Homebuilding Education Leadership Program, the National Housing Endowment is investing in the future generations of home builders,” he said.
Felicia Watson, of NAHB and an internship program coordinator, said that NAHB was able to offer an internship program during one of the worst economic downturns this county has experienced in years because of the support and assistance provided by the National Housing Endowment and three of the association’s builder members, Pulte Homes, Rosenthal Homes, based in Rockville, Md., and Craftmark Homes, headquartered in McLean, Va.
Walters and fellow intern Beckman will report on their internship experiences to endowment trustees during the 2010 International Builders’ Show in Las Vegas in January.
For more information about the endowment, visit www.nationalhousingendowment.org.
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