CAWP hosted the 4th Annual CAWP Student Estimating Competition at the Regional Learning Alliance. Nine teams from five universities participated in this competition, which was developed to showcase the benefits and opportunities the heavy-highway construction industry has to offer. It was an exciting two days with teams from Carnegie Mellon University, Penn State University – University Park, Penn State University – Harrisburg, University of Pittsburgh, and University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown participating in the competition.
The competition began with the student teams receiving initial competition instructions and information on Thursday night when they arrived. On Friday, the teams were given pre-job documents and attended a pre-bid meeting. The teams then spent the day preparing their bids and schedule. There was a race to the finish at the bid box as the teams arrived to turn in their bid packages before the 5:00 p.m. deadline. On day two, the teams were allotted 30 minutes to present their process and an explanation of how they arrived at their final bid to a panel of judges. While not presenting to the judges, the student teams were invited to participate in a career fair and industry presentations provided by several CAWP members. At the end of the day, scores from both the actual bid and the presentation were combined to determine the winning teams of the competition.
Carnegie Mellon University
Penn State University – University Park
Penn State University – Harrisburg
University of Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown
Benedum Builders
University of Pittsburgh
left to right: Paul Amicucci, Anthony Ganson, Russell Jacobs, Mason Hill, Patrick Schorr. Brandon McDermott, not pictured.
The Brain Storm Troopers
University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown
left to right: Jedidiah Elam, Juliah Seymour, Isabelle Macioce, Katherine Bolden, Hayley Caretti, Yoichiro Furukawa
left to right: Jared Hayes, Lisa Gorbolskaya, Andy Guo, Weidong Hu, Alyssa Mayorga, Nicole Postnikov
left to right: Paul Amicucci, Anthony Ganson, Patrick Schorr, Brandon McDermott, Russell Jacobs, Mason Hill
left to right: Aaron Mitsch, Panyapit Uareksit, Javier Lara, Anna Fiducia, Pierce O’Dowd
left to right: Joshua Wagner, Peter Wojcik, Mauricio Barrera-Tapia, Jacob Devereux, Justin Means
left to right: Subhan Mahmood, Alma Liriano-Blanco, Austin Turpin, Sahad Rafiuzzaman, Venny Mitranov
left to right: Yoichiro Furukawa, Juliah Seymour, Isabelle Macioce, Hayley Caretti, Katherine Bolden, Jedidiah Elam
left to right: Brock Fisher, Michael Barndt, Scott Thompson, Dane Woo, Rick Orr, Mason Whitley
left to right: Joe Durso, Cody Calabro, Zachary Devenney, Abby Cowser, John Jones, Derrick Dauson
left to right: Gabriel Puchalsky, Richard Kresge, Cameron Wilson, Faith Shipapa, Logan Bayer, Noah Tabacchi
Thank you to the following team advisors, who put in weeks of work behind the scenes and with the student teams in preparation for this event.
Carnegie Mellon University
Kevin Duris and Patrick Garrett, Trumbull Corporation
Penn State University – University Park
Evan Ring, Brayman Construction Corporation
Penn State University – Harrisburg
Paul Boggs, Trumbull Corporation
University of Pittsburgh
Kurt Karanovich, Bryan Frye, Sylvia Sun, Fay, an i+iconUSA Company
Joe Neubert and Frank Zottola, Independence Excavating, Inc.
University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown
Josh Fetcko, Brian Miller, Plum Contracting, Inc.
Thank you to the following competition judges for volunteering their time and expertise to evaluate the student teams in their presentations.
Geoff Clarke, Swank Construction Company
Justin Fox, Independence Excavating, Inc.
Russ Hathaway, Michael Facchiano Contracting, Inc.
Harry Hardman, Trumbull Corporation
Chris Konopka, Mascaro Contracting, LP
Rich Mannarino, Brayman Construction Corporation
Jim Wilkinson
Thank you to the following contractor members who participated in the career fair during the competition.
Josh Fetcko, Brian Miller, Brian Westrom, Plum Contracting, Inc.
Nate Miller, Eurovia Atlantic Coast, LLC
Joe Neubert, Independence Excavating, Inc.
Mark Raketich, Trumbull Corporation / Lindy Paving, Inc. / Gulisek Construction LLC
Mike Reiber, Golden Triangle Construction
Evan Ring, Brayman Construction Corporation
Justin Smith, Swank Construction Company
Eric Steele, A. Merante Contracting, Inc.
Thank you to the following industry representatives for providing informative sessions for the students to attend during their down time during the final day of competition.
Jarid Antonio, Tunstall Engineering Group
Josh Fetcko & Brian Westrom, Plum Contracting, Inc.
Joe Neubert, Independence Excavating, Inc.
Dan Watson, Brayman Construction Corporation
Justin Smith, Swank Construction Company, LLC
Thank you to Eric Klimas from Golden Triangle Construction
for selecting one of Golden Triangle Construction’s jobs for the student teams to bid on, and for presenting the project to the teams and judges.
Thank you to Katie Banks from Trumbull Corporation for preparing the vast amount of competition materials needed for the teams to compete, as well as assisting behind the scenes in the preparation leading up to the competition.
A special thank you to John Maffeo from Trumbull Corp.
for leading the planning, preparation, and execution of the competition and being an invaluable resource to the Association.
