Wando Students and Roper St Francis work on project

Wando High students learn from team building hospital
By Jessica Johnson
The Post and Courier
Thursday, April 9, 2009

Leroy BurnellThe Post and Courier
Roper St. Francis Healthcare is proceeding with work on a Mount Pleasant hospital, a $143 million, 85-bed facility off U.S. Highway 17 near Wando High School. The planned opening is in late 2010.
A roomful of engineers, architects and construction managers who spoke to Wando High School students during a recent field trip all had a role in the planning and creation of new Roper St. Francis buildings taking shape in northern Mount Pleasant.
But all of them took different avenues to the jobs they're in now, constructing Roper St. Francis Healthcare's new Mount Pleasant hospital and medical office building. Some went to four-year engineering schools, while others earned technical degrees and worked their way up through the ranks, they told a Wando High School civil engineering and architecture class.
Peter DiNicola, now director of engineering for Roper St. Francis, was in the Coast Guard and made contacts at Roper while serving as a commander in Charleston. He has two master's degrees, but wasn't an engineer by nature. After retiring from the Coast Guard, he joined Roper St. Francis.
DiNicola and others involved in building the 85-bed facility talked about their roles and backgrounds to a group of mostly juniors and seniors in Wando High's pre-engineering program on-site before giving students a tour of the project.
Adam Pyles, program manager at BE&K, the contractor for the medical office building, told students to take part in a co-op program that allows them to work with an engineering firm while they're in school. That way, they can learn on the job.
"You might get into it and think, 'This is awful. I hate this.' Which is good," he said, adding that it gives students time to make a change.
Like a co-op, the engineering program at Wando gives students a small taste of what an engineering or architecture career might be like. When most students enter the program, they don't realize what being an engineer involves, according to teacher Deborah Kennedy.
She tells her students that anything they can touch probably had some engineering behind it.
A large portion of the $180 million cost to construct the new hospital and medical office building is from engineering, ranging from site design to planning the layout of mechanical utilities and electrical wiring.
DiNicola said the project was similar to managing the construction of the Heart and Vascular Tower at Roper, but the Mount Pleasant project has offered its own set of challenges.
Students commented on the different groups working together, spotting organization in what most see as chaos.
Marshall Houston, a junior who wants to study construction management or civil engineering, said he grew up around building projects but was in awe of the hospital construction.
"I'm not used to such a large project. All of the organization is kind of amazing," he said.
Reach Jessica Johnson at 937-5560 or jjohnson@postand courier.com.
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