RIO GRANDE, Ohio – There’s nothing like winning an all-expenses paid trip to Las Vegas, but it’s always sweeter when you earn it.
That’s what six students from the award-winning Buckeye Hills Career Center did with their team’s performance in the first-ever International Construction Challenge sponsored by the Association of Equipment Manufacturers and Destination ImagiNation in Cincinnati last Saturday.
The team, made up of students from four different vocational-technical programs, competed with 22 teams from around the Midwest and earned one of 12 bids to the national championship to take place in March.
“(Career-Technical supervisor) Tim Updike approached me about it,” said Mark Chaney, who coached the team in the competition.
Members of the team making the trip to Las Vegas on March 10 include Nic Morgan, Ashley Marcum, Matt Finley, Amanda Henderson, Brittany Gilbert, and Sean Maynard.
Chaney, who teaches Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning at Buckeye Hills, recruited students from H-VAC, computer-aided drafting, cosmetology, and diversified health occupations, building the team based on the recommendations of other career-technical teachers at Buckeye Hills.
“It’s not just construction,” said Chaney. “There was a lot of problem solving involved.”
Advancing in this competition continues the tradition of students from the award-winning Buckeye Hills Career Center who have ranked prominently in state and national-level competitions.
The International Construction Challenge competition consisted of three challenges. The first – Infrastructure – asked teams to use their creative problem-solving skills to answer challenges about safety and other construction issues.
The second challenge – Mini Road Warrior – gave the team materials to build a 30-foot bridge to support the weight of a large radio-controlled car.
Morgan, a senior H-VAC student from Oak Hill, said that the bridge-building part of the competition was his favorite. “It’s just more me,” he said. “I’m a construction type, and I like to build stuff. It was hands-on.”
Finally, the team was asked to completely develop a game as part of the Construction Crews and Equipment challenge.
The Buckeye Hills team will be joined at the competition by qualifying teams from six other regions across the United States and Canada. Each qualifying team’s trip to the finals is being sponsored by a major manufacturer in the construction business. Volvo, John Deere, Cummings, Case and Caterpillar are among the corporations sponsoring teams at the nationals.
The International Construction Challenge was started with the goal of helping develop the future construction workforce.
Morgan, who initially didn’t want to participate in the competition until Chaney talked him into it, said that he was glad he changed his mind. “I didn’t want to do it at first,” he said. “Now I’m glad I did. Anybody who wants to get involved in it should. It’s a good thing to get into.”
