A Washington State University student team took second place in the recent Associated Schools of Construction competition, the largest construction management competition in the United States.
Just under 1,800 students from 57 universities across 22 states participated in the competition, which was held in Reno, Nevada. The competition required students to solve complex problems in less than 24 hours, present proposals, and participate in a rigorous question and answer session in a business-like setting.
WSU’s team, coached by Professor Jason Peschel and sponsored by Howard S. Wright Construction, won second place in the commercial category, which consisted of 21 teams from schools in California, Oregon, and Washington. As part of the competition, sponsored by Hensel Phelps Construction Co., the students used construction management skills such as scheduling, estimating, site logistics, site safety, and technical writing to develop a proposal for a real-life construction problem.
As part of the competition, the students used construction management skills such as scheduling, estimating, site logistics, site safety, and technical writing to develop a proposal for a real-life construction problem.
The student team included Molly Mahoney, Garrett Nelson, Daniel Guiterrez, Eric Harrod, Ali Mock, and Camden Howard with alternates Bradyn Melton and Jamie Ryder.
WSU also had teams competing in the Design-Build and Heavy Civil categories this year. The teams are predominantly construction management students. There were also architecture students on the Design-Build team and construction engineering students on the Heavy Civil team.
“I am so proud of how hard these students worked to grow their skills, capabilities, and team dynamic over the last several months,” said Peschel. “Their efforts contributed to a tradition of success — the commercial team has been on the podium in 13 of the last 16 years. There is such strong competition that having a team place is a wonderful statement about the strength of the program, the coaches, and the students.”
Several industry partners, including Exxel Pacific, Howard S. Wright, Mortenson, Graham, Atkinson, and Holland Construction provided financial support, workshops, and practice problems for the WSU student teams before the competition.
“The fantastic industry support we have here at WSU is very much appreciated,” he said. “The students benefit immensely from the time our industry partners invest in helping to prepare them for the competition. They are gaining invaluable skills and experiences that will benefit them in the classroom and their careers.”
