Career Development at MCAA

...And the Winner Is...

The Annual Awards Breakfast on March 20 honored members' sports achievements, exceptional safety performance, celebrated the winner of the 2011 - 2012 Student Chapter Competition and welcomed NFL coaching legend Jimmy Johnson. MCAA President Mark Rogers and Career Development Committee Chairman Brett Christiansen presented trophies and cash prizes to the finalists of this year's Student Chapter Competition: first prize and $5,000 went to Student Chapter of Specialty Contracting (Mechanical/Electrical at Southern Polytechnic State University. The $2,500 prize for second place went to the Sacramento State Chapter of the MCAA. The Illinois State University Mechanical and Electrical Contractors Association is the 2011 Student Chapter of the Year and Prof. Blake Wentz of the Milwaukee School of Engineering was honored as the 2011 Educator of the Year. Former NFL coach Jimmy Johnson-best known for his years with the Dallas Cowboys-shared stories from his professional career and valuable life lessons he learned.

MCAA Received 27 Entries for Competition

Twenty-seven MCAA student chapters will be competing this year in MCAA's Student Chapter Competition. In early October at the 2011 Student Chapter Summit in San Francisco, MCAA student chapters were invited to prepare and submit a proposal to retrofit an historic San Francisco building into the Asian Art Museum. And, for the first time, teams were required to prepare a bid for a service and maintenance package on the building after completion of the construction. The bids arrived on December 16, and were sent to a panel of judges drawn from MCAA's Career Development Committee. The judges will choose the top four best-scoring proposals at a meeting in early January 2012, and their teams will be invited to deliver a presentation on their submissions at MCAA 2012 at Walt Disney World® on March 19 at 1:30 p.m. The top prize is $5,000! Thanks to committee member John Powell of Marelich Mechanical Company (Hayward, CA) for arranging for our use of the project. For more information, contact Ann Mattheis (amattheis@mcaa.org).

2011-2012 Student Chapter Competition Documents

Last updated 12/5/2011

Competition closed to new entries. Documents provided for reference only.

• RFIs Round 6
• RFIs Round 5
• RFIs Round 4
• Kitchen Allowance Addendum
• RFIs Round 3
• RFIs Round 2
• Bid Form
• Asian Art Museum
• RFIs Round 1
• Rules
• RFP
• Project Trade Wages
• Drawings and additional materials are available at ftp://ftp.marelich.com/2011MCA/

Questions? Please contact Ann Mattheis at amattheis@mcaa.org.

MCAA Announces 2012 Student Internship Grants

Once again, MCAA's Career Development Committee is making available Student Internship Grants with funding provided by the Mechanical Contracting Education & Research Foundation (MCERF). MCAA members who hire student interns may qualify for one $1,200 grant to help them offset the intern's salary. The student(s) gain experience working in our industry and their employer benefits from the student's fresh perspective, knowledge about new technologies and much more. It's a win-win for everyone. If you've already lined up one or more interns for this summer or you're beginning your search, consider applying for a grant. Applications are due May 15. To find out more, go to http://www.mcaa.org/careers/grants/ to download the information. Please contact Ann Mattheis (amattheis@mcaa.org) with any questions.

Presentations from the 2011 Student Chapter Summit in San Francisco

• General Conditions and Other Proposal Traps
• Chilled Water Storage
• Finding the Right Number: The Project Acquisition Process

Career Development Committee Approves 2011 Grants for MCAA Contractors and Student Chapters

The MCAA Career Development Committee recently awarded 2011 grants to MCAA student chapters and to contractor members who hire student interns. Funded by the Mechanical Contracting Education & Research Foundation's (MCERF) Funding Educational Excellence Initiative (FEE), the grants help support the Career Development program's mission, which is to attract well-qualified future professionals to our industry. Find out where the grants were awarded.

MCAA Joins ACE Mentor Program

MCAA has become a national board of directors member of the ACE Mentor Program, a national program that introduces and educates high school students about the construction industry and the career opportunities that it offers. Founded in 1994 by Charles H. Thornton, world-renowned structural engineer and co-owner of New York-based Thornton Tomasetti, Inc., ACE Mentor reaches into urban high schools and matches teams of interested students with mentors from the architecture, construction and engineering industries (hence, the name ACE) who expose the students to the building industry through regular after-school meetings, visits to their offices and project sites, and competitions. ACE encourages qualified students to further their education in college or technical schools and offers scholarships to help them. MCAA’s student chapter program is uniquely positioned to further its own and ACE Mentor’s goals by matching mentors from MCAA student chapters with nearby ACE high schools. MCAA and ACE are already making plans to develop and test a model for this program over the next year. For more information about ACE, please contact Dennis Langley at dlangley@mcaa.org, Ann Mattheis at amattheis@mcaa.org or ACE Mentor executive director Pamela Mullender at pmullender@acementor.org.

MCAA's Careers Website Is for YOU!

• An MCAA/MSCA/PCA contractor . . .
  looking for talented, well-educated college graduates to fill summer internship positions
• A local MCAA affiliate representative . . .
  trying to interest and involve young people in the specialty trades industry
• The college professor or instructor . . .
  looking for information and/or ideas to enhance a mechanical engineering course, curriculum, or program

This is where you'll get the latest news about MCAA student chapters across the U.S., information about establishing a new chapter, and great ideas about how to keep an existing program vital, relevant, and exciting. Check our list of contacts for contractors, faculty advisors and students who will share their chapter ideas, experiences, and success stories.

This is where prospective student interns and prospective employers can meet. We've created a special page where MCAA contractors in the mechanical, service, and plumbing business can post their company's available internship opportunities. It's easy for contractors to use and even easier for students to find just the right intern position.

This is where you'll find Career Development tools and resources to help you recruit the most talented, well-educated young people into your business.

Note: Throughout this site you'll find this icon or references to "PDF" files. This indicates that the document is being provided in the Adobe Acrobat format. To use these documents, you will need to download the free Adobe Acrobat Reader from from Adobe's site.