When McKenzie Brooks, Project Design Engineer at EnCon Design, taught her first class at Colorado State University as part of the PCI Foundation’s “Precast Studios,” she admits she was a little nervous. Rather than lecture at students, she wanted to focus on creating a more engaging, conversational experience—leaning into what she knows best.
“It was a little intimidating at first, but at the end of the day, I can talk about precast forever.”
Through the Precast Studios program—an initiative designed to connect students with real-world industry expertise—EnCon is helping bring precast concrete education directly into the classroom. In partnership with organizations like Wells and the PCI Mountain States Region, the program gives students hands-on exposure to the materials, methods, and mindset that define modern construction.
During the fall semester, McKenzie participated in a Construction Management-focused PCI Studio course at CSU, a five-to-six-week “bootcamp” style class. Each week, students heard from a rotating mix of industry professionals, including McKenzie, who led two sessions covering the fundamentals of precast concrete.
“For the Construction Management course, we were giving an overall idea of what precast is, why it is efficient, and to help construction management students become more familiar with how it fits into a project overall,” she explains.
Her sessions focused on the building blocks of precast—from basic structural design and connection details to scheduling, cost analysis, and coordination across trades. The goal wasn’t just to teach theory, but to provide a practical understanding of how precast systems come together both in the manufacturing plant and in the field.
“We showed them the benefits of precast, and gave them basic knowledge of what these structures look like, why we do what we do, and what we need up front coordination-wise so CM’s of the future know what it is like to lead a project involving precast.”
McKenzie’s involvement with CSU didn’t stop there. A CSU graduate herself, she was later invited back in the spring to contribute to an advanced concrete engineering course—this time reaching 20 to 25 students.
Working alongside the course professor, Dr. Rebecca Atadero, EnCon and McKenzie helped integrate industry-backed resources like PCI’s “Concrete in a Box” into the curriculum before McKenzie stepped in as a guest lecturer. Students were eager to understand what a career in structural engineering looks like day-to-day in this particular field, and McKenzie offered a firsthand perspective grounded in real project experience.
The experience ultimately extended beyond the classroom. Students were invited to tour EnCon’s Colorado plant, where they saw precast production in action, including the fabrication of a beam girder for the I-70 Floyd Hill Project. To ensure future accessibility, EnCon also partnered with CSU’s production team to capture the process, creating a series of digital modules that will support the course as it moves online.
“I did an interview with CSU, and they’ll turn the footage they took into five or six different modules that will go into their online courses in the future. Going forward, EnCon will be involved in person and online now, which is really cool.”
For McKenzie, the experience has come full circle—returning to the university where she started and helping shape the next generation of engineers and construction professionals.
“It’s nice to go back to the school I graduated from and being able to get precast back into the curriculum and seeing young people take an interest in prestressed concrete.”
