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Beazer Internships Put Hispanics on the Fast Track
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Melissa Grisales, one of 16 interns in the Team Builders program, during her internship with Beazer Homes in Tampa, Fla. | With the fall semester fast approaching, an inaugural group of Team Builders completed its 10-week internship program with Beazer Homes and is preparing to return to school.
Team Builders is a joint effort of the Home Builders Institute (HBI), Beazer Homes and the Hispanic Heritage Foundation’s (HHF) Latinos on Fast Track (LOFT) program to increase Latino representation in the home building industry’s managerial ranks.
Beazer Homes was Team Builders’ first sponsor, welcoming 16 students for internships. After a brief introductory period, students were placed at job sites and in offices across the country, according to their area of study.
Melissa Grisales, a third-year architecture student at the University of Notre Dame, traveled to Tampa, Fla. for her Team Builders internship. She handled a variety of responsibilities, which included assisting clients in model homes and functioning as an interpreter to Spanish-speaking workers on building sites.
“The highlight of my experience was being able to come here and fit in as part of the team,” said Grisales. “As time went on, my responsibilities increased and I really began to do significant work.”
Grisales enjoyed the experience so much that she is now strongly considering pursuing a career in home building. “I never realized how many career opportunities were available in this industry,” she said. “This internship really opened my eyes to options that have never been presented to me before.” Grisales will spend the upcoming school year studying architecture in Rome, Italy.
Another Team Builders participant was Saady Palma-Corea, a third-year civil and infrastructure engineering student at George Mason University, who stayed close to home, working at Beazer’s Chantilly, Va. office.
Participating in Beazer’s land development department, by the end of the summer Palma-Corea was completing tasks generally assigned to entry-level college graduate engineers.
His supervisors were so pleased with his job performance that they invited him to stay through the school year. Palma-Corea re-arranged his class schedule and will continue working at Beazer on a part-time basis.
Ignacio Sanchez, a fourth-year business management major at the University of California, Santa Cruz, interned at Beazer’s Sacramento office, where the predominantly Hispanic workers were excited to see a Latino on the administrative side of the operation.
“This has been a very positive experience and Beazer is dedicated to helping Team Builders grow,” said Jim Sanders, an area vice president for human resources from Beazer’s corporate office in Atlanta. “It was great having such talented students with an interest in careers in home building come work for us. We are looking forward to participating again next year,” he added.
HHF will continue supporting current Team Builders students throughout the year, and HBI will recognize them at a ceremony during the 2007 International Builders’ Show in Orlando, Fla.
For more information on Team Builders, e-mail Page Browning at HBI, or call her at 800-795-7955 x8918.
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Ignacio Sanchez at the Sacramento, Calif. office of Beazer Homes. |
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