The Dragons are on Fire!
Two teams of students from the Drexel University Construction Management Program traveled to Albany, NY on November 8-10th to participate in the Region 1 Associated Schools of Construction (ASC) competition. They returned with a first place finish in the Commercial Building competition out of 10 teams and a first place finish in Heavy/Civil competition out of 8 teams, continuing the era of Drexel dominance at the competition.
Region 1 encompasses schools from Maine to Northern Virginia and 19 colleges and universities from across the region competed in four categories: Pre-Construction, Design-Build, Heavy/Civil and Commercial Building. Drexel fielded teams in the Heavy/Civil and Commercial Building categories. The ASC competition problems are sponsored by construction companies who serve as the judges of the work the students complete. Walsh Construction of Chicago, IL led the Heavy/Civil problem and Dimeo Construction of Norwalk, CT the Commercial Building problem.
Right to Left: Team Coach Dr. Christine Fiori, Chris Jager, Josh Loser, Eric Kasperowicz, Zach Arnold, Patricio Portillo, and Kyle Contino
Team members Ben Strauch, Kevin Wilkison, Katie Tiarks, Andrew Coleman, Juan Pinto, Mark Rounbehler, and Team Coach Ken Sands
Each team consisted of six students, ranging from pre-juniors to seniors, who began preparing for the competition in early August, prior to the start of the term. The Heavy/Civil team, captained by Josh Loser, included team members Zac Arnold, Eric Kasperowicz, Kyle Contino, Patricio Portillo and Chris Jager. This team scored very high on their team presentation and impressed the Walsh judges with their understanding of the complex bridge replacement project that had a 15-day construction window. They bested Roger Williams University by a very narrow margin.
The Commercial Building team, captained by Ben Strauch, included team members Juan Pinto, Katie Tiarks, Kevin Wilkison, Mark Rounbehler, and Andrew Coleman. They were seeking to improve their third place finish in 2017 and they did so in grand style, eclipsing the competition with their presentation that included a Sketchup Model animation of the jobsite and Virtual Reality tour of the project. The team scored a perfectly on their presentation and each student was offered a position with Dimeo Construction on the spot!
The competition occurs over two grueling days of work. Teams received their problem statements at 8:00am on Friday morning with a 11:00 pm final deadline to complete the work required by the sponsor, with some interim submissions to the judges throughout the day. The commercial project was the construction of a the Ruane Friar Development Center on the campus of Providence College, while the heavy civil team faced a fast-track bridge demolition and replacement project for the Commonwealth Avenue Bridge in Boston, MA. The teams have the day to digest the plans and specs and complete the work required to meet the demands of the judges. Standard components of the submissions include an estimate, a schedule, an analysis of means and methods, logistics and evaluation of specialized construction operations such as demolition and crane placement and pick analysis.
Upon completion of the written portion of the problem, the students shift their focus to the development of an oral presentation in which they present their solutions to a panel of industry judges who actually worked on or are currently working on the project. The students must submit their presentation materials at 6:00am on Saturday morning and then the order of the presentations is determined. The Commercial Building team presented their solution sixth in a field of 10 competitors and raised the bar for the rest of the competition. The Heavy/Civil team presented fifth in their field of nine competitors and fielded a grueling round of questions from the judges like seasoned veterans.
The hard work and dedication of the students led them to their placing, but they did not get there on their own. Each team was mentored by industry professionals who volunteered their time and resources to assist the teams. Allen Myers supported the teams by providing sets of plans and specifications for the many practice sessions conducted. The Heavy/Civil team was mentored by Keith Thompson of Allan Myers and the Commercial Building team was mentored by David Senko of Target Construction. The Commercial Building team also completed a site visit to a dormitory construction project at Villanova University as the guests of Torcon Construction. Additionally, the teams were supported by many software companies who helped them organize and build their materials, specifically the team at Procore and BlueBeam Revu were tremendous assets.
A special thanks goes out to our expert panel of judges who served as a mock panel and helped the teams polish their presentations. These included David Senko from Target Construction, Denise Tankle from Turner Construction and Dr. Kathleen Short of the Construction Management program. The commercial team was coached by Dr. Kenneth Sands and Dr. Christine Fiori coached the Heavy/Civil team.
The Construction Management Program is extremely proud of the students and thanks all the individuals who helped support these teams.