Dayne Friday, a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville and a member of the football program, was hired for his first internship through the online job fair during the COVID-19 pandemic. He completed his first summer and impressed his supervisor at August Winter & Sons so much they invited him back for a second internship.
Doing back-to-back internships was something Friday found beneficial for him, as it allowed him to grow more as an engineer.
"This is my second summer with August Winter & Sons," Friday said. "With playing football, I only had two months with them. That is not enough time to really grow with the company and learn a lot. With another two months, I continued to grow in the position."
Friday's growth didn't go unnoticed to August Winter & Sons Engineering Manager and Friday's supervisor Jeff Luczak.
"He has grown tremendously, from more of an assist role to a lead role," Luczak said. "I have had him take the lead on a couple projects this year and he has done a great job. He still has a mentor with each project, but he has done a great job taking the lead and putting the proposals together for our clients."
It just wasn't the growth from year one to year two that impressed Luczak. Friday impressed from the very beginning. Tasked with doing a piping audit on chemical lines and systems in an industrial facility, Friday went to work on the project.
"We didn't have any information on the existing systems and the type of systems that were there," Luczak said. "He really dug in and did some great legwork investigating the types of chemicals they were using and the compatibility with different materials. He used his engineering background to do the research. I didn't give him a lot of direction; he took the bull by the horns and ran with it. When he was done, he had a very good analysis."
August Winter & Sons began in Appleton, Wisconsin, in 1929 and offers years of experience in custom fabrication, HVAC service, boiler repair and plumbing. Luczak has been with the company for nine years. August Winter & Sons was one of the five interviews that Friday completed during the online job fair UW-Platteville offered during the COVID-19 pandemic. He received multiple offers from the job fair and chose August Winter & Sons.
"It came down to which one I liked more locally, and I liked the people at August Winter & Sons," said Friday, a Kiel, Wisconsin, native. "Just talking to the head engineers and learning what they do and their personalities behind who they are. There are great people here and are willing to lend a hand to help you learn as a young engineer."
Coming out of high school, Friday knew he wanted to be an engineer and play football at the college level. The decision to attend UW-Platteville was an easy one.
"I applied to one college, UW-Platteville," Friday said. "Knowing I wanted to be an engineer, I looked at Milwaukee School of Engineering and UW-Madison. I didn't want to go into a lot of debt, and honestly, I didn't feel like I was a Division I or Division II type player and Division III was the perfect fit for me. So, I applied and got in."
Friday had conversations with Head Coach Ryan Munz, who was an assistant when Friday was recruited, and former Head Coach Mike Emendorfer. Following the conversations, Munz followed up and visited him during the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association Shrine Bowl. Knowing he was already planning to attend as a student, Friday committed to joining the football team as well.
"The coaches were involved in the recruitment. Knowing I was going to go to school at UW-Platteville, it was nice to see and to be able to get to know the coaches and players," Friday said.
August Winter & Sons has had experience with UW-Platteville engineering alumni in the past and currently have one full-time employee who graduated from UW-Platteville's online program. The company and Luczak hold UW-Platteville's engineering program in high regards.
"I think UW-Platteville is the top hands-on technical skills engineering program in Wisconsin," Luczak said. "I recruit pretty much all over the state, at the different engineering known schools. I would say UW-Platteville by far is the top. With Dayne going to UW-Platteville and playing football, it has set him up for tremendous success."
Following the internship, Friday will return to campus for one final season on the gridiron and one final semester in the classroom before graduating in December. Following graduation, Friday will begin his professional career.
"Ideally, I just want to be in a really good engineering company – a company that continues to challenge me. August Winter & Sons seems like the place that does that," Friday said.
Luczak finished with high praise of Friday. "We think very highly of him," he said.
August Winter & Sons thought so highly of Friday, they have offered him a full-time position.