Constructing double

For a pair of UD twins, summer doesn’t mean taking a break — it means getting to work.

Entering their third consecutive summer interning at The Hill Group in Chicago, twins Ezra Stukel ’26 and Dante Stukel ’26 have built off of lessons learned in the classroom to gain clarity in their career goals.

“I didn’t really know what to expect going into an internship. People joke that all you’ll be doing is getting people coffee and making copies, but it isn’t like that at Hill,” said Dante.

Ezra said he felt prepared for his work-load thanks to his engineering professors at UD. “A lot of our professors have experience in the engineering industry and give great advice to prepare you for careers and the reality of job search.” 

Hill is a full-service mechanical contracting organization designing and constructing HVAC, plumbing and fire protection systems in the Chicago area. Ezra and Dante’s grandfather worked at the company for 30 years, so when it came time to apply, a familiar company felt right.

During their first year, the twins said they mostly learned the basics of the office and the systems they’d be working with including estimating, drafting a bid and seeing a proposal to its end. But now, Ezra said, they’ve taken on more responsibility, learning new aspects of construction projects in completing on-site field work.

On-site projects have included work at sites like hospitals, data centers, and important institutions in the Chicago area. The twins said working alongside engineers, foremen and superintendents has allowed them to experience all roles within the HVAC business, something they’ve found incredibly valuable.

“I’m able to understand drawings and how equipment works, and then actually see how those plans and equipment function on different projects,” said Dante.

Ezra and Dante, both mechanical engineering and technology majors at UD, said they’ve really had a chance to apply skills they’ve learned in the classroom to real-world work.

“Skills that I’ve learned in college like time management, taking notes and healthy habits have been reinforced in my internship and vice versa,” said Dante.

Unique to Hill Mechanical’s summer internship program is a summer-long project pitch competition in which teams of interns put together an estimation for a real project and present it to company executives at the end of the summer. Dante’s team won in his first year at the company and Ezra’s team won this past year. This summer, both are looking for a successful outcome to culminate their third-year with the company.

“Working at the same company as Ezra is like having a good friend in the office,” said Dante.

Ezra agreed.

“We get to have conversations and learn from each other’s experiences.”

As for the future, both twins are confident that wherever they end up, their internship experience has given them the tools to succeed.

Ezra said the internship has shown him that construction is a career option for him. “I thought it was only available to construction management majors,” he said.

“There’s a whole bunch of different industries you can go into with engineering, but I feel my internship with Hill Mechanical has helped me discern that I really do enjoy construction and it’s a field I would like to continue in the future,” said Dante.