Cal Poly Construction Management Students Win at National Competition

project management — Cal Poly’s first-place Project Management team is pictured at the Associated Schools of Construction competition in Reno, Nevada. In the back row, from left to right, are: Michael Avila of Salinas, Chris Farkas of Thousand Oaks, Chad Richman of Chatsworth, Tristan Soltero of Palo Alto, and Faculty Coach Greg Starzyk. In the front row, from left to right, are: Travis Tollstrup of Elk Grove, Nick Wilcots of Fresno, Orlando Yepez of Salinas and Chelsea Trumbull of Rocklin.

Cal Poly’s first-place Preconstruction team is pictured at the Associated Schools of Construction competition in Reno, Nevada. In the back row, from left to right, are: Billy Markham of San Jose, David Maslan of Santa Monica, Connor Cody of Redwood City, Manny Gonzalez of Ukiah, and Faculty Coach Greg Starzyk. In the front row, from left to right, are: Dominic Parella of Pinole, Allyson Forster of Santa Clarita, Kristen Forster of Santa Clarita and Devin Merker of Elk Grove.

Cal Poly construction management students earned top honors and took home more trophies than any other university at the Associated Schools of Construction competition in Reno, Nevada. Seven out of 12 Cal Poly teams placed in the top three spots in their respective categories.

Cal Poly students earned first in the Mechanical, Preconstruction, and Project Management categories; second in the Heavy Civil category; and third in the Design Build, Electrical, and Virtual Design and Construction categories. All were national awards except for the Heavy Civil and Design Build categories, which were regional awards.

A total of 195 teams from 49 universities competed in this year’s competition, held Feb. 7-10. A record-high 1,413 construction management students (including alternates) participated in the competition, including 97 Cal Poly students from the College of Architecture and Environmental Design. Cal Poly has competed in this event for 30 years.

“Since we stepped foot on campus, the Learn by Doing approach has provided us hands-on experience to gain the knowledge and confidence we need to succeed at these competitions,” said first place Mechanical Team Captain Josh Heath of Durham, California, in Butte County. “This is an incredible experience because each team is put under a significant amount of stress, similar to what we will face in the industry, and this whole competition somewhat prepares us for working as a cohesive project team.”

Construction Management Department Head Al Hauck added: “The ASC student competitions are the most impressive example of student professional development in our department. The students are asked to solve realistic technical and management problems similar to what they will experience in their careers. Once again this year, the department provided this opportunity for nearly 100 of our students on 12 teams thanks to the generous support of our alumni and supporters. We appreciate their ongoing support.”

For complete competition results, go to http://www.asc67.org