A University of Arkansas at Little Rock student is vying for $10,000 and the title of Construction Intern of the Year. 

Harrison Hayworth, a junior civil and construction engineering student, needs your votes to help move to the next round of the Construction Intern Awards, which is offering a grand prize $10,000 scholarship as well as $40,000 in additional scholarships.

As of Sept. 21, Hayworth was beating out 120 other contestants to appear first on the leadership board with the most online votes.

A second UA Little Rock student, Edyta Osieczko, a civil and construction engineering major from Little Rock, is also competing for Construction Intern of the Year. A story featuring Osieczko is coming soon.

The scholarship program is designed to recognize the strongest construction interns in the industry and the companies with the best construction internship programs in the country.

A Donaghey Scholar, Hayworth came to UA Little Rock to play for the women’s soccer team. This past spring, Hayworth’s soccer career came to an abrupt end after she received her fifth concussion that forced her to leave the sport behind.

“While I miss playing soccer, I realized in time that it was a blessing in disguise, because leaving the sport opened my eyes to the possibilities that working in construction had to offer, and my enthusiasm for the industry.”

In April, Hayworth was one of the first of 10 UA Little Rock students to form a team to compete in the concrete canoe challenge at the American Society of Civil Engineers Deep South Student Conference.

“Helping to start this team at my university and being involved in this project gave me a genuine appreciation for all of the possibilities and intrinsic benefits construction has to offer—as long as you are willing to put in the time and effort,” she said. “Before my college experience, I had no exposure to construction, but I was fortunate enough to attend a university where construction is a valued path and integral part of the civil engineering and construction engineering degree program.”

After meeting with Austin Bridge and Road during the Engineering and Information Technology Career Fair, Hayworth spent the summer interning with the construction company in Dallas. She learned how to use survey equipment, complete bridge calculations, and draft alignments and structures from construction plans.

“The Austin Bridge and Road internship was a great opportunity to dive into construction head on and learn as much about this industry as possible,” she said. “Watching real decisions and compromises being made helped me understand the industry out of an academic setting. Austin Bridge and Road taught me that the construction industry thrives in an environment that uses all resources, technology, and people available to create the best possible outcome.”

You can vote online once every 24 hours until voting ends at 4 p.m. Oct. 3. The eight candidates who receive the most online votes will become semifinalists along with nine candidates selected by a committee. The top four finalists will be announced Nov. 14.