The Missouri State University Construction Club placed in three divisions in the 2019 Region IV Student Construction Management Competition.

Students competed in five divisions: Commercial 1 (new construction), Commercial 2 (renovation/addition), Design-Build, Heavy-Civil and Specialty. MSU placed third in Commercial 1, third in Heavy-Civil and second in Specialty.

Teams had two months to prepare a document to qualify for their given projects. During this time, they only had access to conceptual information.

On day one of the competition, students received their problem statements. This included building plans, a spec book, trade partner bids and more.

Teams then had 18 hours to schedule, estimate, run cost analyses and resolve several management issues that occurred throughout the planning phase. The overall goal was to place students in “real life” project management situations.

Megan O’Leary, senior construction management major, led the Commercial 1 team. She faced some unexpected challenges throughout the 18-hour day.

“The other students looked to me for answers to questions I didn’t even know,” said O’Leary. “I had to be ready to take the fall for anyone’s mistakes.”

On day two, teams delivered a 20 minute presentation to judges, covering the basis of their plan to manage and construct the project.

“We placed third in our division out of six schools,” O’Leary said. “But more importantly to me, I was able to maintain a calm and positive attitude that led us to work productively despite the bumps in the road.”

The MSU Construction Club provides construction management students with integral elements of the construction industry including networking, exposure and hands on experience.