UAA construction management teams secure second and third place wins at national competition
by Michelle Saport |
UAA construction management students secured a second and third place win at this year's national Associated Schools of Construction Competition.
UAA construction management students may have entered this year's Associated Schools of Construction (ASC) Competition feeling as if they faced overwhelming odds, but they soon proved they were up to the challenge when they seized a second and third place win.
"Our success came from our ability to work together as a team," said UAA student Nathan Yaskell, captain of the commercial project team. "We all supported each other and helped one another when we needed it. We focused on practicing and preparing for the competition months in advance, which is what made these wins so rewarding."
The ASC is a professional association focused on the development and advancement of construction education. Each February it hosts the annual ASC Competition, a grueling three-day event in which student teams must respond to a real-world request for proposal for a large commercial or public project.
The commercial team finished in second place. Back row from L to R: John Maguire, Zacharias Quam, Jacob Craig, David Freswick II, Jeff Wilson, Industry Coach. Front row L to R: Don Tipton, Faculty Coach, Nathan Yaskell, Ryan Honea.
Projects are generated by construction management companies who are competition sponsors and were awarded the contracts in real life. Student teams must put their estimating, scheduling and proposal skills to use to produce a set of deliverables in a compressed 16-hour time frame that would typically take a contractor or construction management firm a couple of weeks to prepare.
This year's competition, held in Sparks, Nevada, attracted 182 teams from 46 universities, totaling more than 1,300 student participants. UAA competed in the commercial and heavy civil categories, the event's top two competitions. Thanks to generous donations from community members and corporations in the construction industry, this is the first year UAA sent a second team to compete. For the last nine years, UAA teams have competed in the commercial category, taking home a second place win in 2009 and a first place win in 2011.
"We're really proud of our students," said Don Tipton, assistant professor of construction management and the team's faculty coach. "To say the competition is fierce is an understatement. Our teams competed against 11 of the top construction management programs in the country including Colorado State, Brigham Young, Northern Arizona, Air Force Academy, Boise State and Arizona State. This is truly a tale of David versus Goliath - simply amazing!"
The heavy civil team finished in third place. Back row from L to R: Chase Swalling, Erin Dickson, Conor Nicoll, Jeff Wilson, Industry Coach. Front row L to R: Don Tipton, Faculty Coach, Brett Smith, Rodolfo Vaquera, Jake Henkel.
Tipton added that many other construction management programs are much larger than UAA's and may receive as many as 60 applicants for a team's six primary and two alternate spots. In comparison, the entire UAA program is about 80 students which makes it challenging to recruit 16 students for the two teams. He noted that some other schools have construction management classes specifically designed for the ASC Competition and even offer credit for competition participation.
"Our students faced a lot of challenges many of the other schools don't have," Tipton said. "They had to raise $23,000 to make this trip a reality. Without the support of Alaska's construction industry, we couldn't have competed, and the students would have missed out on an unparalleled training opportunity to bring to the workforce."
The 2016 UAA Construction Management student competitors would like to thank the following individuals and companies whose generous contributions made participation in this year's ASC Competition possible:
AACEI Alaska Section AJ Bear Piekarski Anchorage Sand and Gravel Carberry Assoc Construction Industry Progress Fund Donald Ketner and Dorene Lukas Dowland-Bach Edge Survey and Design Frawner Corporation GCI Global CPT Granite Construction Company Green Earth Landworks International Union of Operating Engineers Local 302 Jacob T. Henkel Knik Construction Neeser Construction Northern Geotechnical Engineering Olgoonik Specialty Contractors Pita Pit PND Engineers Point MacKenzie Construction & Management Spenard Builders Supply The Superior Group Swalling Construction Tamie and Paul Taylor TS Construction
Story by Kirstin Olmstead, CTC Communications Coordinator with Don Tipton, Assistant Professor of Construction Management
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