Intern Spotlight: Daylain Bastman

Daylain Bastman of Greenville is working as the intern for Quail Construction this summer, a position supported by the Spencer Area Jobs Trust Internship Program. In the fall Bastman, a graduate of Spencer High School, will be a senior at Iowa State University where he studies industrial technology. 

His interest in the position stemmed from a relationship with the owners of Quail Construction. “I actually know Joe and Anne [Quail] and they brought it to my attention and emailed me when I was down at Iowa State,” he explained. “I applied for the position, and it went from there.”

“I like the construction field and I like computer-aided design and working with people,” Bastman said when asked why he wanted to apply. “This was also an opportunity to gain technical knowledge.”

The internship was able to connect to his classroom work with industrial technology but also allowed him to explore the ins and outs of operating a small business, saying, “Engineering is done here every day with construction and buildings. I’m also doing a lot of computer-aided design with CAD, and that directly applies to what I’m doing at Iowa State. In my downtime, I get to work with QuickBooks.” 

Bastman noted that he was able to strengthen a variety of skills in his position, including, “Getting better with CAD and talking with people. Before starting here, I wasn’t great at talking to people on the phone, but now I’ve gotten much better.”

His advice to anyone applying for an internship is, “Don’t be scared! Just do it! You are going to learn a lot because you don’t know everything coming in, so it great getting a chance to gain more skills.”

The Spencer Area Jobs Trust is a partnership between the city of Spencer and Spencer Municipal Utilities that provides existing employers with support and financial resources for internships. The purpose of the program is to connect talented students with existing employers in Clay County and to help employers recruit and retain skilled workers. Spencer Area Jobs Trust is an organization that consists of representatives from Spencer area businesses and the Iowa Lakes Corridor.