The Cal Poly construction management team took home seven awards at the Associated Schools of Construction Reno competition last week, the most of any university at the event.
Cal Poly, which risk management team captain and construction management senior Deanna Alexander said is a “heavy hitter” in construction management, sent the most delegates to the competition out of all the schools in attendance — more than 100 students and some faculty took charter buses to the Sparks, Nevada event last Wednesday.
Alexander said throughout the competition, people wanted to talk to her and the rest of the Cal Poly teams after seeing their university T-shirts.
“I only hope that I can live up to the Cal Poly reputation,” Alexander said.
The Cal Poly teams placed in the top three in the mixed use, mechanical, concrete, marine and risk management categories. The concrete and design build teams placed first out of all schools in the category.
“It was extremely stressful,” Alexander said. “But it was like summer camp for construction management students.”
Professional construction management companies sponsored the different categories of competition. The companies gave teams a challenge in the beginning of the event and expected them to have a finished presentation one day later. Throughout the competition, the company judges would call the teams and present them with new challenges.
The judging committees, which are made up of employees from the construction companies, decide prizes based on final projects, presentations and interactions with the participants during the competition.
“The judges drop in on you randomly,” risk management team member and construction management senior Emily Pool said. “They’ll judge you on the way you respond to emails.”
Pool said she was proud of all of the Cal Poly teams, especially those that had new members this year. She said the school’s long history of success in construction management competitions is in part because the work for the university teams is done completely by students.
“Anyone who does the competition has such a huge involvement,” Pool said. “Even teams that didn’t place, we’re still really proud because they put in so much work.
Forty-one colleges from throughout the United States competed at the Reno open. Cal Poly tied with Oregon State for the most first-place awards. First-place teams will advance to a national competition later this year.