Mason Bracker ’17 was a growth and structure of cities major at Haverford, and in his new profession, he’s taking the “growth and structure” part literally. As a pre-construction engineer with the the Philadelphia-based Turner Construction, he is delving directly into the building process, helping to erect physical structures in urban centers and beyond.
His position pits him as an intermediary between architects and contractors in the field. He gathers information from architectural plans and then works with subcontractors to help effectively realize the construction projects. The excitement of the job, he says, is helping actualize physical creations from the ground up.
“For me, the thing that is most interesting about working in construction is the tangible product that comes out of the process,” said Bracker, who was also an economics minor and member of the men’s soccer team. “While architecture or development, or even other fields of work, may only result in words or drawing on a paper, construction can yield something as large as a 60-story skyscraper.”
Bracker isn’t new to his line of work. Last summer, he had similar responsibilities as an intern with Turner. During his thesis process this year, he consulted Turner employees about their thoughts on a skyscraper the company helped construct as he researched urban vertical communities. “My work next year will directly relate to many of the things I did in the classroom during my time at Haverford,” he said.
Though he demonstrated initial interest and prowess in physics and math at Haverford, his first-year writing seminar “Borders, Walls and Bridges: Cultural Approaches to Divided Cities,” taught by then-Postdoctoral Writing Fellow Paul Farber, introduced him to the cities major at Bryn Mawr. Now, as he works in a major urban center with a prestigious construction company, he has a hand in how cities and the buildings that constitute them will evolve. He’s grateful to come from a school and a community that has prepared him to do so.
“I gained a lot of skills through the cities major and [economics] minor that will help me directly in my job at Turner,” he said. “In addition, balancing the Haverford workload and the time commitment that came along with being a member of the men’s varsity soccer team has taught me a lot about time management and may even benefit me as much as the specific practical skills I learned.”
-Michael Weber ’19
“Where They’re Headed” is a blog series reporting on the post-collegiate plans of recent Haverford graduates.