In our latest Employee Spotlight video, Project Coordinator Kelly Shields gives an inside look at her work on the Lake Travis High School Competition Gym and Fine Arts Addition. The project expands the existing high school with a new competition gym, a turf practice field for marching band and athletics, and four new art classrooms.
The gym features a press box and a four-sided scoreboard suspended over the basketball court, which gives everyone in the stands a close-up view of the action. Kelly was especially struck by how the scoreboard is held up. "The structure of the scoreboard is actually just with cabling," she said. "That blew my mind." The fine arts side has its own standout feature: a catwalk that lets the band director walk above the marching band and critique formations from overhead to make sure they're perfect.
Kelly's biggest challenge on the project has been the sheer variety of wall types. "I have to learn how we're going to route all of the electrical and all the plumbing from a CMU wall to a cold-formed metal stud wall," she said. Her job is to figure out how those systems fit together and coordinate the trades "so we can do this successfully the first time around."
The project has been a big learning experience for Kelly, both personally and technically. On the people side, she's learning how to approach others and get good, clear answers, "but then also how to keep things positive and moving, because that's the most important thing." On the technical side, it's her first time really digging into plans, checking that every sheet matches so the finishes don't conflict.
Those finishes are one of the things she's most excited about. "This gym is going to be stellar," Kelly said. The bold black, white and red color scheme will make it a standout home for Lake Travis basketball when it opens in summer 2027. "I just think it's going to be really awesome to be able to watch their basketball team on the court on this big, cool scoreboard."
For Kelly, the freedom to learn is her favorite part of working at American Constructors. She credits much of that to her mentors including her direct manager. "My boss is one of the best bosses I've ever had, if not the best," she said. "He actually takes time to teach me things. He has patience for me when I'm asking a question that I think is even silly." She added that at American, "they take the time to teach you and to show you how things work, and they have patience for you, and we laugh every day."
Kelly's team makes the work even better. Three of the team's four members have now worked together on three projects in a row, which has given them a strong foundation. "What I find the most inspiring and coolest thing about this is the way we're learning from each other," she said. "I have a good team."
Watch the full Employee Spotlight video to hear more from Kelly about the project and her experience at American Constructors.