Montana Tech teams bring home awards from Associated Schools of Construction bidding competition
Three teams and three alternates from Montana Technological University competed in the 2024 Associated Schools of Construction (ASC) Region 6/7 annual construction bidding competition in Sparks, Nevada. Montana Tech entered a team in the following categories Alternate, Commercial, Heavy Civil, and Project Management.
The University's Heavy Civil team placed 1st in the Region 6 competition. The team was comprised of six seniors studying civil engineering. The team trained through the fall semester, focusing on learning various methods to construct heavy civil projects. The team had no prior competition experience. The Heavy Civil team members have a variety of construction experience through summer internships and work. The competition included 15 teams from universities in the Rocky Mountain region, including Montana State, Colorado State, Northern University of Arizona, Brigham Young University (2nd place), and the University of Alaska (3rd place). The Montana Tech team included Jared Griffith of Jane Lew, West Virginia; Gavin Dolechek of Laurel; Bryce Hasquet of Missoula; James Huckaby of Fernley, Nevada; Koby Martin of Helena; and Gabriel Roberts of Fairfield. Alternates were Will Wagner of Florence (competed in alternate competition) and Sean Mehling of Hardin (media liaison).
“Our team had a great understanding of individual roles, and how to work together,” Team Captain Jared Griffith said. “Our specific project, ‘The Hacienda Gulch Remediation’ included several very challenging addendums throughout the competition that really put the pressure on our team to perform. The major deliverables of the project included: an executed contract, bid forms, project schedules, risk analysis, engineering plans (shoring and dewatering), and a 20-minute presentation with question and answer.”
Griffith pinpointed one person as a valuable guide through the competition process.
“With our entire team being completely new to the competition, an immense amount of credit goes to our coach Sonya Rosenthal for teaching us the details of the competition and preparation throughout the year,” Griffith said. “We are lucky to have such great coaches and advisors who care for the university and students.”
Adjunct Sonya Rosenthal has coached the Heavy Civil team for 10 years. In that decade, Montana Tech has placed in the top 3 eight times. Rosenthal expressed pride in how quickly the team learned and applied learnings from workshops and presentations from industry and coursework to solve their competition problems. At the competition, the team was given a Kiewit-sponsored problem of addressing a complex environmental cleanup project in a sensitive area in Southern California with several contract amendments and last-minute tweaks in the bid proposal.
“During training and competition, the team fully absorbs themselves in the project, just as they would if they were preparing a proposal for their future employer,” Sonya said. “They get the importance of giving it all.”
The second Montana Tech team competed in the Commercial category, which is sponsored by Mortenson. This competition includes university teams from the Rocky Mountains including Alaska though Idaho/Colorado to Arizona. This is the first time in many years, that Montana Tech has competed in this category. The team wanted to change it up from their previous sponsor and category of Pre-construction to challenge themselves in a new category. They are very pleased with their efforts and new problem statement and feel rewarded with this experience. Team members included Jade Morast of Dillon (captain); Seif Benjemia of West Lafayette, Indiana; Andruw Brester of Billings; Chase Hinckley of Billings; Makenna Liles of Florence; and Cael Ricci of Billings. Alternate Holter Reisinger of Billings was on deck and ready to participate as needed. The team was coached by Bill Ryan of Dick Anderson Construction.
“I am so proud of the work this team did to prepare and how well this team performed at the competition. This project was very complicated," Ryan said. "The team worked on a project name The Beam on Farmer which is a 6 story office building for Mortensons Phoenix area office and a parking garage on a single city block in a busy area in downtown Tempe, AZ. The congested work area and heavy traffic created some logistical and scheduling issues the students had to assess and mitigate. In addition, the office building was construction of Cross Laminated Timbers which are manufactured and shipped from Austria adding to the work schedule complications."
Ryan added, “The Montana Tech community should be very proud of all three teams who competed, I know we coaches are.”
The third Montana Tech team competed in the Project Management category sponsored by DPR Construction. This open category saw competition from 16 universities across the United States including Texas A&M, University of California -Berkeley, Colorado State University, University of Colorado, Denver, Santa Clara University, Oregon State University, and California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo. This is the third time in several years that Montana Tech competed in this category, and the team enjoys pushing themselves every year to learn new elements of project management. Team members included Thomas Walkup (captain), Parker Johnston, Kobe Moreno, Justus Peterson, Troy Springer, and Kyler Tesch, Alternate Mykhailo Tiutiunyk of Sidney was on hand, and participated in the Alternates competition.
Civil engineering graduate student Andy Anderson, works for the Montana Department of Transportation, and is the team’s industry coach. He praised the hard work and dedication the students showed both during preparation for and during the ASC Competition.
“The students volunteered hundreds of hours of their personal time to further their knowledge of the construction industry, and completed against schools 14 times larger than Montana Tech,” Anderson said. “I’m proud of the work they put in, and excited to earn our spot on the podium next year.”
Three of our four alternates were able to travel to Nevada and compete in the Alternates Competition. The Alternates Sponsor, Rudolph and Sletten, formed teams of eight students from across the 54 construction schools that were in attendance. Their problem statement was related to a complex California zoo expansion. The three freshmen alternates enjoyed the challenge of working with their respective ‘new teams’ and delivering a proposal in such a short time frame. Two of the Montana Tech alternates represented their teams in the interview process.
Overall, the competition categories that the club selects match the many courses available at Montana Tech with our students' future careers. The 2023/2024 team members are studying civil engineering, construction management, petroleum engineering, welding, and safety, health & industrial hygiene.
AGC club advisor Sonya Rosenthal wants to recognize the work that these students and coaches gave during their weekends and evenings to prepare for the competition. All three teams and alternates were very strong competitors, represented the school very well, and excited industry recruiters with our graduates.
"Each student committed their time and energy to perform well, and to have fun in the process,” Sonya said. “This experience gives each of them an extra edge in their career."
Associate Professor and Mining Engineering Department Head Dr. Scott Rosenthal took the opportunity to attend the competition as he judges the mock trials put on by the coaches.
“The Montana Tech students were prepared, confident, and professional throughout the competition,” Scott said. “They were a positive reflection on themselves, their coaches, and Montana Tech. It was so moving to be there when Montana Tech, the smallest university competing, pulled out 1st place in Heavy Civil.”
The Lance College of Mines and Engineering Dean Kenneth Lee agreed.
“It was so exciting to see the students compete and kudos to all participating students,” Lee said. “The industry recruiters were all over them. These students will have great career options.”
The AGC Club at Montana Tech is open to all students in any major interested in learning about the Construction Industry. The teams include a mix of students in two-year and four-year programs from Montana Tech's north and south campus, a unique strategy that has strengthened the teams.