UW-Stout construction management students competed against the nation’s top students during Associated Builders and Contractors’ hallmark annual event, the Construction Management Competition, held this spring in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The ABC competition gives students a glimpse into the real world of construction, testing their project management, estimating, safety, quality control and presentation skills. This year’s project was the Salt Lake City Convention Center’s Hyatt Regency Hotel – a nearly 700,000-square-foot venue located in the heart of downtown.
“The construction industry needs to bring in 349,000 new workers this year just to meet demand, and that includes experienced young construction management professionals like these because they can solve real-world problems so contractors can build quality infrastructure,” said ABC National Board of Directors Chair Thomas “Murph” Murphy.
Of the 31 national teams, UW-Stout was among the final nine invited to present in the third phase of the competition, which included a presentation and Q&A with a panel of 40 industry experts.
UW-Stout’s ABC team members were:
- Evan Ambourn, of Eau Claire
- Rorie Boettcher, of Eau Claire
- Ian Farrell, of Waukesha
- Riley Hibner, of Portage
- Kameron Konsela, of Minneapolis
- Sarah Meyers, of Plover
- Anna Odisho, of Roselle, Illinois
- Megan Schatz, of Brookfield
“Acting like our own contracting company, the ABC competition gave us a real-life project, where we could work as a group to build a proposal that a true industry company would create – from breaking ground to completion,” said Schatz, the team lead.
“This team demonstrated exceptional dedication and skills from day one. They took a complex project and vision, executing it with precision and professionalism. I have no doubt that the skills they’ve honed during this project will serve them incredibly well in their upcoming professional careers,” said Senior Lecturer James Bunkelman.
Recently, the team was presented with a proclamation on behalf of the Wisconsin State Legislature by Sen. Jesse James and Rep. Clint Moses, a UW-Stout psychology alum. They were joined by John Schulze, ABC Wisconsin Director of Legal and Government Affairs, and Bunkelman.
“We appreciate UW-Stout students’ engagement and their achievements. They were up against some very big schools, and they held their own,” Schulze said. Competing universities included Clemson, Purdue and Michigan State. Louisiana State University won first place.
A project to reimagine a city skyline
The Hyatt Regency Salt Lake is a 25-story hotel, with 517 guestrooms, more than 60,000 square feet of meeting space, a lobby and reception area, a fitness center, multiple restaurants, a market, an outdoor pool, an event terrace and underground parking. The glass façade helps shape the city’s skyline.
The ABC student teams were provided access to the project by ABC member contractor Hensel Phelps, which has already completed the project.
The first phase of the competition was to research and prepare a proposal. The process took two-and-a-half months, and UW-Stout’s final proposal was 120 pages long. Logistics was the biggest challenge, with Odisho handling much of the research.
“Since our project was in the heart of downtown Salt Lake City, there was not a lot of room for a project trailer, let alone a laydown of space for all the materials. The convention center also needed to be fully operational during the duration of the construction. So, safety was a large factor, as we’d be hoisting large pieces of steel and other material. It is also on the corner of two busy roads, so we had to time deliveries and plan what lanes of traffic we could change during construction,” said Schatz, who serves as vice president of the Student Construction Association, as well as director of public relations for Sigma Lambda Chi, the construction honors society.
For the project’s second phase, the 31 teams convened at Salt Lake City Convention Center for a six-hour-long day, where they were given five addenda and changes they needed to incorporate into their proposals. The addenda reflected both fictional and actual events that happened during the construction of the hotel.
“Some of the addenda we were given were: a build-out of the restaurant on the sixth floor, the final build-out of the top five floors for the NBA All-Star Game, adding balancing water valves that were missed originally, and an earthquake that hit Salt Lake City,” Schatz said.
Phase three was the final presentation, in which the UW-Stout ABC Team was one of nine finalists. “Presenting in front of the judges and audience was such an accomplishment. I’m incredibly grateful to have been able to complete this project with such a dedicated and committed team. We learned not only more about the industry but also grew as a team and had a fun time doing it,” Schatz said.
Graduates from UW-Stout’s B.S. construction management program reported a 100% employment rate within six months of graduation and an average starting salary of $70,000, according to the latest university First Destination Report.
UW-Stout’s School of Management offers 20 undergraduate and graduate degrees and certificates that build students’ leadership skills in operations and management, business, hospitality and technology innovation, and military science fields
