Aaron Torgerson has always liked taking his own idea and shaping it into reality.

“I love building things with my hands,” he said. “I like tinkering with things. I’ve always loved constructing objects and bringing my ideas into the real world.”

He attended a summer camp for robot building, he’s constructed wooden furniture and built a one horsepower engine.

The 2014 graduate of Whitefish High School is currently attending Montana State University majoring in mechanical engineering.

This summer, Torgerson is working as an engineer intern with the city of Whitefish Public Works department.

One of his tasks is to draft updates in AutoCad to the city’s engineering standard by mapping information pertaining to the new and older underground utilities that have been mapped during constitution projects. It creates and digital visual reference for what’s underground, Torgerson explains.

He’s completed about 75 such projects so far and is “nowhere near half way.”

Soon he will be going out to gather field data for the city GIS mapping system that will include the precise location for all the utility valves in town.

“There has been big changes going on in the city and this is about providing updates to the system,” Torgerson said.

He’s been working with the city’s inspector observing and learning as construction projects, particularly the West Seventh Street reconstruction, are inspected. Torgerson said he’s liked being in the field seeing what starts out as engineered drawings turn into actual infrastructure.

In addition, he’s had the chance to tour private engineering firms and a waterworks supplier. He is also assisting with the city’s update of its bicycle and pedestrian master plan.

While the work Torgerson has performed for the city falls largely under the category of civil engineering, he’s taken the opportunity to see another type of engineering.

“Civil engineering has a much larger span — it’s stormwater systems, infrastructure and large scale construction,” he said. “Mechanical engineering is more about constructing one piece of the whole puzzle. Even though it’s not mechanical engineering, I’ve enjoyed it.”

So far he’s enjoyed the internship more than his job last summer when he was a bellman at Lake McDonald Lodge in Glacier National Park. The temperatures were pretty warm to work in a place without air condition, he says with a laugh.