UVU Construction Management students won second place in the Commercial Construction Problem at the Associated Schools of Construction (ASC) annual competition February 6-11 in Sparks, NV.
The ASC competitions offer students real-world problems from companies and professionals who originally worked on those very projects. The difference is that students are required to solve problems and create winning proposals and presentations in a highly compressed time period (16 hours).
“The experience and knowledge they gain at these events are huge for their careers,”
stated UVU Construction Technologies department chair Robert Warcup. “Construction
Management students competing at this event are the top ten percent in the nation.
Taking second place at a competition of this caliber shows that we are doing something
right here at UVU.”
Fifty-three different Construction Management programs across the nation were represented,
all six ASC regions were present, and approximately 275 teams competed in 17 different
problems. Over 120 companies were present recruiting the students to various locations
nationwide.
UVU had five different teams competing—several against other schools in the Mountain
West region, and others competing against schools from around the nation including
Purdue, Florida, Auburn, Washington, Oregon and Arizona State. Those five UVU teams
competed in Heavy Civil, Commercial, Mixed Use, Project Management, and Concrete Solutions
problems.
Despite being the first time UVU has competed in the Commercial problem in eight years,
UVU’s team was strong and confident as they estimated, scheduled, planned and proposed
a high-profile military training facility for their project. Student Austin Buckner
won the ingenuity award for his 3D animation of the project’s site logistics plan.
The rest of the winners on the Commercial team were Karac Ashcraft, Caden Jensen,
Dylan Howell, Chase Madrigal and Alec Spottiswood.
“Additionally, two UVU winners, Ofa Tuiileila and Johnathon (Cole) Freeman took second
and third place in the alternate competition,” stated Warcup. “In the alternate problem,
students are teamed up with their peers from other institutions and given a construction
problem to solve. UVU’s two winning students won this year because of their outstanding
scheduling capabilities thanks to Eric Linfield’s superb instruction in that subject!”