Full-Time Before Graduation: How RIT’s ESHS BS/MS Launched a Safety Specialist Career

I am from outside of Buffalo, NY (Go Bills!!) Spent last summer in Colorado working for Checkers Safety (General manufacturing) as an EHS Intern, and loved it so much. I would have stayed with the company, and was offered to come back again for another internship but figured I would explore a new area of ESHS- Safety in construction. I was lucky enough to get a full time offer after my internship this past summer and it was a deal I could not turn down. As I am finishing the last semester of my BS/MS in ESHS management fully online, it was an easy yes to continue to work for a great company that created a position to help me grow as a professional. They are paying for all of my certifications and further learning opportunities.

What is your current employment (company, location, position, focus of your work, roles and responsibilities)? Safety Specialist at Sturgeon Electric in Colorado. Sturgeon Electric is a subsidiary of MYR groups, and they are an electrical contractor, the second largest as of 2024.

I started out at MYR as a safety intern in June and got hired officially for Sturgeon in September as a safety specialist. My roles and responsibilities involve visiting job sites throughout Colorado, conducting job site walks, and learning about the electrical trade. Recently, I have had the opportunity to be a safety specialist on a job site for two weeks and was able to lead safety meetings, find solutions for problems on the job site, and learn more about what safety looks like in this industry. Soon, I will be one of two safety professionals on a Data Center project, which will be one of the biggest projects that Sturgeon has ever done.

What do you think are the most important skills/abilities to have for this kind of work?
The ability to communicate with people of many different backgrounds- I have learned that there is a lot of psychology that comes with the EHS industry!! Very interesting to learn how to communicate with others that have different styles of learning, comprehension, and communication. You have to be willing to adjust on a day to day basis as you will most likely be doing something different everyday. Also the ability to keep learning!! You will never stop learning and researching new solutions or ideas for a problem and you will always learn a new process. If you move from job to job (even in different industries) you will never not learn a new thing. For example, my first internship was at Howmet Aerospace in Rochester, NY as a EHS intern. This location was a forge manufacturing so i learned about broilers, furnaces, hot work, etc. It was a very specific job that not many people will experience. This comes with creative solutions for EHS as it has to fit the job the best. Each location you work will have very specific job hazards than the last.

Are there skills you learned at RIT that you apply to your job today?
Definitely!! Communication, JHA’s, root cause analysis, CSG, and specifically in construction the OSHA classes and all of Joe Rosenbeck's classes and knowledge. Being in the construction industry as someone who comes from an education background and not a trade can have its advantages as you can share your knowledge you have learned from your classes and experience. I am trying to work on using my EHS management knowledge to have an impact on the safety team within the company!!

How did you find ESHS? What intrigued you about it? What was your journey like from end of high school to joining RIT/CET?
I had always wanted to go to RIT because my sister and dad had gone. Both my sister, dad, and I are deaf with cochlear implants but didn't grow up in the Deaf community. Going to RIT was important to my growth as RIT has the wonderful aspect of having NTID and the Deaf community embedded in the culture.

I got to RIT in fall of 2021- midst of COVID-19 which had its own difficulties. As for finding ESHS- I originally got into the program and then changed it last minute to Mechanical Engineering Technology within CET because I was craving the hands on experience of engineering technology. I really loved MECETEC but realized I wanted to be involved more in the environmental field/ environmental engineering and working with people. I ended up switching to back to ESHS after my first semester and it was the best decision I made as I fell in love with it.

How did you find your co-op?
Spent last summer in Colorado working for Checkers Safety (General manufacturing) as an EHS Intern, and loved it so much. I would have stayed with the company, and was offered to come back again for another internship but figured I would explore a new area of ESHS- Safety in construction. I was lucky enough to get a full time offer after my internship this past summer and it was a deal I could not turn down. As I am finishing the last semester of my BS/MS in ESHS management fully online, it was an easy yes to continue to work for a great company that created a position to help me grow as a professional. They are paying for all of my certifications and further learning opportunities.

Can you describe a bit about your experience in the ESHS program?
I have loved my time in this program. We have fantastic professors with a lot of experience in so many different areas. This is especially important as our major and field of study can be so broad- you can be anywhere from an environmental consultant to an EHS manager to a sustainability programmer.

Our professors and colleagues are there to make your time at RIT worthwhile and provide you with connections and pathways to best fit your interests. I was also very lucky to come into the program with a very small group who have become one of my best friends. It is so nice to have a tight nit small major as everyone there have similar interests and goals. In fact, I was able to convince another EHS major who is also finishing up their degree on the same timeline as me to move out to Colorado together!! It has been so nice to have a group of friends that are as supportive as they are with a group of professors that are there to help and support as you grow. Having a smaller major really helps to create relationships with advisors, mentors and others a lot easier.

What are the top things from RIT that led you to where you are today? 
One of the top things that I was able to experience at RIT was being a Resident Advisor for three years. The ResLife community is awesome- they helped me grow as a person and as a student. I was able to become more confident and comfortable with myself as a person and a leader in the position of an RA. I was also able to be a leader for other members of the LGBTQIA+ community who are experiencing life in college for the first time. Being an RA made me a better leader and improved my communication skills to be able to have hard conversations with people. This has helped me in my work life with communication styles, confidence in my knowledge, and overall experience with planning, conflict resolutions, and creative ideas. I really miss being an RA and want to give kudos to the ResLife community for their support and work they do for students in a mainstream environment.

What makes your program stand out from other schools you could have gone to - Why CET? What advice would you give to high school students who would like to pursue this field? 
This major is amazing!! ESHS is a very broad field with many opportunities like I mentioned above. Our program does an amazing job of ensuring you learn all aspects with soil testing, waste management, OSHA certifications and so much more. There is such a great job outlook and support as well as so much to learn. If you are interested in engineering and the environment- this is a great compromise with an amazing outlook. There is also many different paths and additional classes you can take to further your interests in a specific direction. For example, I have taken many GIS courses because it was a large area of interest for me and there is a lot of room for different courses.