Decatur Team Makes a ‘Great Catch’ with Jeff Wells

With the toss of a coin and the sound of a whistle, we sent our summer intern Jeff Wells off to football camp at Southern Illinois University Carbondale! Before he headed off to school, we asked Jeff to give us the play by play on his internship experience.

Jeff worked with Brian Beneke, Brad Hemstreet, and Adam Knoles at the Johns Hill Magnet School in Decatur and according to Brian, Jeff was a great addition. “Jeff embraced his summer internship with vigor and an open mind, and it was a joy to see him learn so much in a short time,” Brian said.

For Jeff, Decatur was the perfect place for him to intern since it’s his hometown. “I didn’t know what to expect with this experience but ended up loving every minute of it,” he said.

Part of what he loved was meeting so many people and learning a variety of new skills. Jeff said he enjoyed working with the Decatur team, including the subs, vendors, and the owner, which helped him develop his leadership skills.

Jeff also learned to read blueprint drawings and how to use Bluebeam, where he even created a Bluebeam training module for outside vendors to use.

But if he had to pick his favorite experience, it would be physically seeing the construction progress at Johns Hill and seeing how much you need your project team.

“Construction isn’t a one-person job. As they say, ‘Team work makes the dream work,’ and you need your team to complete your project,” he said.

Team work really does make the dream work! We wish Jeff best of luck as he helps his new team at SIUC. GO SALUKIS!