Whatcom County Construction Academy Students Win Regional Competition
Five Whatcom County high school students are heading to Nationals! The team from the Whatcom County Construction Academy which is supported in part by AGC and several of its Northern District members recently won the regional Construction Challenge competition and will compete in the national competition in Tennessee this spring.
The winning team consisted of Sehome High junior Trevor Mauro Meridian High senior Marshall McBride Lynden High senior Troy Buist and Mount Baker High seniors Chris Whitson and Bill Managan.
Before the competition I said Were not walking in with high expectations. We just want to have a fun day Mauro told the Bellingham Herald in an article here. Even until they called our name I thought we were just having a fun day.
Each team was presented with three challenges to be solved within a predetermined amount of time (an Infrastructure Presentation Manufacturing Design and a Service Tech Simulation). Students put their engineering design and building skills experience to the ultimate test developing workable solutions to infrastructure and on-the-job issues. The Whatcom team was the only one out of 13 to place in the top three in each challenge.
The team earned third place for Infrastructure Presentation and second place for Service Tech Simulation but their favorite competition was Manufacturing Design.
For that challenge which earned them a first-place plaque they built a glorified pooper scooper out of a spatula electrical box and other random parts. Using their creations teams had to move golf balls and wooden blocks through an obstacle course.
AGC members immediately responded to a request for sponsors to help get the students to Knoxville for the national event (May 19-23).
The winning team consisted of Sehome High junior Trevor Mauro Meridian High senior Marshall McBride Lynden High senior Troy Buist and Mount Baker High seniors Chris Whitson and Bill Managan.
Before the competition I said Were not walking in with high expectations. We just want to have a fun day Mauro told the Bellingham Herald in an article here. Even until they called our name I thought we were just having a fun day.
Each team was presented with three challenges to be solved within a predetermined amount of time (an Infrastructure Presentation Manufacturing Design and a Service Tech Simulation). Students put their engineering design and building skills experience to the ultimate test developing workable solutions to infrastructure and on-the-job issues. The Whatcom team was the only one out of 13 to place in the top three in each challenge.
The team earned third place for Infrastructure Presentation and second place for Service Tech Simulation but their favorite competition was Manufacturing Design.
For that challenge which earned them a first-place plaque they built a glorified pooper scooper out of a spatula electrical box and other random parts. Using their creations teams had to move golf balls and wooden blocks through an obstacle course.
AGC members immediately responded to a request for sponsors to help get the students to Knoxville for the national event (May 19-23).
This is a truly amazing group said Linda Cowan Construction Careers Academy Program Coordinator. Within hours of sending out the first email notice and request for sponsors six of our advisory committee members and program supporters offered to provide airfare sponsorships for our students to attend the national challenge. Getting our kids to the competition will not be a problem!
Those sponsors are Andgar Corporation IMCO General Construction Granite Northwest AGCs Northern District CITC Apprenticeship & Training Trust and the Building Industry Association.
For more information on the Whatcom County Construction Academy click here then go to the students and community classroom tabs.
