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Although she still has an accent, Laura Bush considers herself a New Yorker.
Currently director of the New York region of Consigli Construction Co., Bush came to the US from the UK 23 years ago. He entered the industry aged 18 as an undergraduate at Lendlease’s Australia-based office in Manchester, where he gained extensive on-site experience.
This summer, Bush partnered with the New York City Department of Education to give two students the same experience she had: an early start in the trades, sponsored by an industry leader. Bronx Academy of Design and Construction students Amari Young and Abner Rodriguez worked on two separate Consigli projects in the city while putting their classroom skills to good use, including carpentry and pre-engineering.
Consigli was the only general contractor to participate in the NYCDOE’s Industry Scholar program, according to a press release. The program provides high school internship opportunities to career and technical education students in Big Apple public schools.
Here, Bush talks to Construction Dive about the program, his own experience, and how to make sure all parties get the most out of an internship.
This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Immersion in CONSTRUCTION: How was this internship program born?
LAURA BUSH: I’m on the board of the New York Building Congressional Foundation, and the DOE came to present this industry fellow program at one of our meetings. It really piqued my interest because I had never heard of anything like it being organized by anyone else.
Laura Bush
Authorization granted by Consigli
And after my own experience, I just said, “We have to do it.” We care about training young people, involving them in the sector, making them aware of the opportunities they have. And this does not necessarily have to be with a construction manager, it can also be in the trades. The ISP program isn’t necessarily limited to construction or trade careers, but we thought we could really give some people the opportunity to get that hands-on experience in our workplaces like I did all those years ago.
So we were very happy to have Amari and Abner with us. They were on our projects at 4650 Broadway, which is a residential project, and some student housing at Columbia University on 112th Street. We were very excited to have them on board as part of our teams on those respective projects.
One of the important things I always say about these experiences is that we don’t just teach them. We always learn from any intern, anyone who comes to our work, even a colleague who comes to give a different perspective. So we always like to keep our eyes open especially with some of the younger ones, and anything creative they can bring to the table as well.
Was the mindset around this internship for Consigli focused on talent development, recruiting, or that fresh, new perspective that the interns brought?
I think there’s a lot you can get as a result of value from a program like this. For me, it’s also about creating awareness not only with these two people, but also creating awareness for their peers.
Maybe one of them has a conversation with someone at school about their experience, or maybe they share it with a family member. It’s creating this awareness that I think we all owe it to the industry to continue to do well. We want to make sure we have the next generation of industry leaders here, and we want it to be a diverse group.
Obviously, it’s very important to me as a female leader and because my husband is mixed race. So there are many different reasons why this should happen.
As I said, it’s about the people who work at Consigli and our projects, to have them also exposed to this different and diverse workforce, continuously training the future leaders of the business. I think it’s important for our teams to be dynamic and responsive and accommodate new people on the team and the next generation, and also be able to share their skills and learn from them.
How do you encourage the exchange of new ideas?
I think it’s about making sure that an intern understands that they have an integrated role in this project and bring value, right? Everyone adds value. Anyone can have this idea.
Construction is about solving problems. I call them people and problems. So I think it’s fostering communication, having that dialogue and making sure people feel supported. The industry needs to be agile and responsive to the next generation.
If you look back to 2001, when I first came to New York City, it’s very different now than it was then. I was just talking about this last week with a couple of other women leaders in the industry, like even in the last three to five years, just advances in security, with technology, the industry is evolving.
How do you make sure you keep students engaged?
We have an open door policy. So if there’s a problem or you’re not up to the challenge, come in and talk. And what we do at the beginning of the internship is to do a presentation with myself, with the leader and the company, to encourage them to challenge themselves.
And also, at the end of the internship, we receive feedback from the interns, they make a presentation of their experiences. And we definitely take that and carry it forward for the show going forward.
What advice would you give to someone looking to improve their internship program?
I think for us we have invested in it. We have a dedicated team of interns who are used to speaking to this generation. You know, workplaces are hectic. Things are crazy sometimes. But bringing high school kids, interns into the mix can really bring a different perspective, like I mentioned.
It also helps develop our own people. Having someone to shadow them, to teach them, to ask us questions, a mentorship, these are all skills that we need as a company, as we develop and grow. There are also many benefits for our employees.
