SUNY Delhi a Winner of 2016 NAHB Residential Construction Management Competition

Related Media

The SUNY Delhi winning team: Daniel Distasio, Henry Hitchcock, Matthew Millham, Michael Weglarz, and Charles Buys

DELHI, NY (02/06/2016)(readMedia)-- The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Student Chapter at SUNY Delhi won third place in the two-year college category of the NAHB Residential Construction Management Competition (RCMC) held at the 2016 International Builders' Show in Las Vegas in January.

The SUNY Delhi team included Daniel Distasio of Bernardsville (N.J.), Henry Hitchcock of South Kortright, Matthew Millham of East Meredith, Michael Weglarz of Massapequa Park, and Charles Buys of Stanfordville. SUNY Delhi's four-year team also competed: Romas Bajoras of New York City, Andrew Kenny of West Hempstead, Kevin Kiefer of Greenville, Fabian Maldonado of New York City, Michael McMillen of Hannibal, and Nicholas Nikula of Windsor.

The students joined fifty-three teams representing universities, community colleges, high schools and career technical schools across the U.S. The Delhi teams were led by Professor Gary Brackett with the help of Instructor Alex Brownell, acting advisor to Delhi's NAHB student chapter, Assistant Professor Jared Yando '05, Associate Professor Alan Smith, and Instructor Michael Cannistraci '12.

As part of the competition, students solve real-life construction management problems and present their solutions to a judging panel of residential construction industry experts. "I am very proud of our student competitors," said Nancy Macdonald, Dean of Applied Technologies. "Their impressive finish is a tribute to their hard work, perseverance, and ability to work as a team. These are skills that will serve them well in their professional lives." Dean Macdonald points out that this achievement is also a credit to the dedication of the faculty who were crucial to making this effort.

"Congratulations to the NAHB Student Chapter at SUNY Delhi," said Jerry Howard, CEO of NAHB. "They and their competitors showed a great deal of talent along with a depth of understanding of building industry management, from land development to marketing to scheduling to estimating."

The NAHB Student Advisory Board is proud that the RCMC has evolved into a prestigious event for the participants, their schools and the building industry, said Jim Gronski, Gronski Construction and chairman of the Two-Year and Secondary Competition Committee for the NAHB Student Chapters Advisory Board. "Students will remember the competition for the rest of their lives. The judges were impressed with this year's group, and we expect once again that the participants will be highly sought after when it comes to job offers," said RCMC consultant Kerry Slattery, Ph.D., Slattery Consulting.

The National Association of Home Builders is a Washington, D.C.-based trade association representing more than 140,000 members involved in home building, remodeling, multifamily construction, property management, subcontracting, design, housing finance, building product manufacturing and other aspects of residential and light commercial construction. NAHB is affiliated with 800 state and local home builders associations around the country and more than 150 student chapters. NAHB's builder members will construct about 80 percent of the new housing units projected for this year.