Pitt Civil Engineering Students Take First and Third Place at Constructors Association of WPa Student Estimating Competition
The Panther Estimators, led by Civil and Environmental Engineering student Thomas Tresky, won the competition with a total of 208 points, securing a narrow victory over the second place team from the Pennsylvania State University, which scored 207.2 points. Team Abbey, also from the University of Pittsburgh and led by Civil and Environmental Engineering student Jon Abbey, came in third place with a score of 193.5 points.
The full team rosters were:
Panther Estimators
• Thomas Tresky (captain)
• Lee Anderson
• Matt Lane
• Janet D’Anna
• Hannah Schell
Team Abbey
• Jon Abbey (captain)
• Katelyn McEneaney
• Andrew James
• Phillip Paulone
• Charles Riddle
• Matt Eastburn
Five universities participated in the CAWP competition: University of Pittsburgh main campus, University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, Pennsylvania State University, Pennsylvania State University Harrisburg and Carnegie Mellon University.
The competition required students to assemble bid packages based on pre-job documents and a pre-bid meeting on a highway construction project. The students had to prepare their bids and schedules by a 6:00 p.m. deadline and then present an explanation of how they arrived at their final bid to judges the next day. Plum Contracting, Inc. provided one of its jobs to serve as the subject of the students’ bids, and Bill Woodford, recently retired chief estimator from Trumbull Corporation, developed the structure of the competition.
Representatives from local construction companies served as the judges. Participating companies included: Mosites Construction Company; Swank Construction Company; Michael Facchiano Contracting, Inc.; Plum Contracting, Inc.; The Lane Construction Corporation; Brayman Construction Corporation; and Joseph B. Fay Co. Kurt Karanovich and Brian Westrom, also from Joseph B. Fay Co., mentored the two teams from the University of Pittsburgh main campus.
The two-day competition took place at the Regional Learning Alliance in Cranberry Township. On the second day, students also participated in a career fair showcasing the region’s employers and potential job opportunities.
The CAWP developed the Student Estimating Competition to encourage students to understand the benefits and opportunities the heavy-highway construction industry has to offer. CAWP, established in 1934, is a non-profit organization that assists workers in the heavy, highway and utility construction industry and improves relationships between contractors, their employees and the general public.
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Contact: Paul Kovach