Newswise — California State University construction management students brought home more than a dozen national championships from the Associated Schools of Construction’s (ASC) Region 6 & 7 Student Competition, held Feb. 7-10 in Sparks, Nevada.
 
The annual event invites more than 1,000 students from over 40 universities in the U.S. to meet with construction and design companies to apply the knowledge they’ve learned in the classroom to solve real-life problems.
 
Eighteen sponsor companies challenge student teams to come up with solutions to actual past, current or future construction problems in less than 24 hours, and award the teams with the most innovative solutions.
 
CSU students excelled under the pressure of the highly-competitive challenges with fifteen teams from five campuses winning awards in nine categories, beating out teams from U.S. universities including the University of Southern California and the University of California, Berkeley.
 
The event culminates in one of the largest career fairs of its kind in the Western U.S., during which students are invited to meet with recruiters from more than 80 sponsor companies. Students are able to compare companies and learn about prospective employers.
 
“The CSU family of campuses have always been a standout in the competitions and presentations we attend, and we always look forward to meeting their students,” says Ben Craigs, a talent acquisition manager for event sponsor McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. 
 
The convention is also a professional development opportunity for faculty to collaborate on curriculum, development of materials and student learning outcomes.
 
“We’ve been very impressed with not only the CSU’s students but the programs that are teaching and supporting them and faculty that work so hard to develop the talent,” says Craigs.
 
Congratulations to the CSU’s 2018 winning teams:
 
Heavy Civil: First place
Commercial: First place
Mechanical: Second place
 
Cal Poly Pomona:
Heavy Civil: Third place
 
Sacramento State: 
Electrical: First place
Concrete Solutions: First place
Design Build: Second place
Mixed Use: Third Place
 
San Diego State:
Commercial: Third place
 
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo:
Mechanical: First place
Preconstruction: First place
Heavy Civil: Second place
Design Build: Third place
Virtual Design and Construction: Third place
Electrical: Third Place