18 Woburn students land full-time summer jobs with Cummings Properties

Eighteen Woburn youth are among the 80 local students who landed spots on Cummings Properties’ 2016 summer crew. Most of these young men and women, who range in age from 15 to 22, serve on the field staff, doing general construction work, including painting, landscaping, paving, and demolition.

Many of the students start with the commercial real estate firm during high school to earn a steady paycheck and take advantage of the opportunity to earn scholarship funds. They return for the valuable skills and experiences and to be part of a team, according to Woburn resident Brian Borselli, associate division manager. Eleven of the Woburn summer crew members have been with the commercial real estate firm for multiple summers.

“We really try to give the kids a good experience,” said Borselli, who started with Cummings on the summer crew himself back in 1987. “If they want to learn and are willing to work hard, we’re happy to teach them a lot of things that will serve them well in the future, whether professionally or personally.”

Woburn residents Alexander Blank and Lars Zandbergs started with Cummings Properties in 2014, when each took a semester off from college.

“I really like the work, and the pay is good. I have been exposed to many things, including masonry and construction,” said Blank, who will be a junior marketing major at Plymouth State University this fall.

Blank and Zandbergs have been an integral part of the grounds team this season, according to Mike Rahn, the team leader for this very busy crew.

“Having already learned the ropes, Alex was able to really step up as a leader this summer. Each day, he took charge of a team of between four and six crew members, supervising the trimming operations,” said Rahn. “This shows the real value of our program. It’s not about trimming bushes, it’s about working hard, being a good teammate, and developing the confidence and courage at a young age to be a leader among your peers.”

Blank attributes much of his success at Cummings to the year-round staff.

“Mike and the other full-timers have been great, and they spend a lot of time teaching us. They take such pride in how everything looks,” said Blank. “Lars and I took everything they taught us last year and shared it with new crew members this year. We wanted to be as helpful to Mike as we could.”

Zandbergs is entering his junior year in the industrial design program at Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Last year, the college honored him with its “most outstanding sophomore designer” award.

According to Rahn, Lars was a big help with planting this year and even assisted with flowerbed design.

For more than 40 years, Cummings Properties has had a strong tradition of employing local area youth as summer workers at various properties throughout the firm’s 10 million-square-foot suburban portfolio.