Ahmed Seck, a junior at the University of Maryland, College Park, has been awarded the Foster McCarl, Jr. Memorial Scholarship for 2020. This national scholarship honors Foster McCarl, Jr.’s many contributions to advancing the mechanical contracting industry, including his efforts toward establishing what is now known as the John R. Gentille Foundation (JRGF). McCarl’s Inc. (Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania) is the scholarship sponsor.
Ahmed, a Mechanical Engineering major, has been honored with several academic accolades over the last few years, including making the dean’s list for academic excellence. When asked about his interest in a career in the mechanical contracting industry, Ahmed said, “What drew me towards a career in the mechanical contracting industry was after joining my MCAA UMD chapter last year and having the opportunity to work on a nationwide competition with my team. Working on this project heightened my understanding of the mechanical contracting industry by exposing me to some of the responsibilities that one has to assume in the real world as a contractor.” He continued on to share, “Although our proposals would not of course be considered in the real world, it really felt as though we were contractors. We had our own firm name, our own responsibilities, a headquarters, a deadline. It truly felt real and exhilarating. It gave me confidence that I could indeed do this in the real world.”
Ahmed and his fellow University of Maryland College Park student chapter team members went on to make it into the Final Four of MCAA’s 2019-2020 Student Chapter Competition. Those who worked alongside Ahmed said in preparation for the competition, Ahmed dedicated multiple hours a week to sharpening his presentation, interviewing, and professional networking skills.
During his time with the student chapter, Ahmed has worked closely with eight industry mentors to advance his understanding of mechanical systems and innovative technologies. Ahmed continuously communicates with the mentors to seek opportunities for professional advancement and feedback for constructive improvement.
The student chapter at Ball State University proudly nominated Dr. Sherif Attallah to be MCAA’s 2020 Educator of the Year because they believed he is more than qualified and deserving of this prestigious award, and MCAA’s Career Development Committee agreed. Here’s why.
Chapter Participation
Dr. Attallah played a crucial role in planning and participating in Ball State’s first annual Top Golf event. Dr. Attallah attends most of their chapter meetings, at which he always helps members with challenges they may be facing with their role in the competition. Dr. Attallah still holds several field trips for his various classes and the student chapter, often organizing and leading these numerous educational field trips himself.
Mentoring
Dr. Attallah’s connections within the industry help his students communicate with industry professionals who are willing to speak to their chapter. Whenever his students have a question about something that he does not know, Dr. Attallah puts them in contact with someone who does. When planning for their fundraiser, he was a significant contributor when trying to find participants; he used his network to reach out and get several participants involved. He did a phenomenal job with this being the chapter’s first annual Top Golf event, which they now plan to continue annually. In his teachings of the mechanical class at Ball State, Dr. Attallah has brought in several contractors that teach the class and sit with the team after talking to them about the mechanical industry.
Membership
Dr. Attallah is the professor for several introductory classes for the Ball State program. With this connection, he plays a crucial role in recruiting younger members for the chapter. Dr. Attallah also implements new and useful recruiting ideas, along with suggesting new members. Every year Dr. Attallah helps his student chapter come up with new activities for their chapter’s first call-out meeting for the school year. In the past, this event has been the deciding factor when recruiting new members to join their chapter and learn more about the mechanical contracting industry.
Student Internships
Dr. Attallah has helped several of the team members get in touch with industry professionals, which in turn leads to internships as well as full-time employment. The members have greatly benefited from his involvement with the mechanical internship program. With his teaching of the mechanical class, he gets to help students that are not in the chapter by letting them hear from the industry professionals that he brings in about internships and joining their chapter.
Employment
Last year two Ball State University student chapter members found full-time careers in the industry, one with North Mechanical and one with Bowen Engineering. He continues to lead his students towards the mechanical field every year.
Faculty Internships
Dr. Attallah has worked with HMH Contractors and, most recently, Kiewit during the summers. With HMH, he worked as an estimating engineer during the summer. In addition to helping HMH during a particularly busy time, he gained industry experience to bring back to the chapter and the mechanical class. During his time with Kiewit, he was a faculty scholar for their company and was a massive help over the summer.
Thank you for serving as an advisor, educator, and mentor to students, Dr. Attallah!
Adam Crnkovich is currently a Project Manager at the Ray Martin Company and a previous member of the University of Nebraska- Lincoln student chapter. As a student, Adam really enjoyed participating in MCAA’s Student Chapter Competition as it gave him incredible exposure to technical aspects that contractors work on, as well as played a huge role in his understanding of the industry as a whole.
Additionally, during his time in his student chapter, Adam actively attended MCAA GreatFutures Forums and MCAA Annual Conventions which he says not only helped him continue to learn about the industry and network, but ultimately helped him grow further into his field and as a person. Adam shared participating in these opportunities “gave me a lot more experience that not only understand if this is something I wanted to pursue, but also how I could be better in the industry and grow as a person and career in general.”
Adam loves that the mechanical contracting industry is not only about building things, but building people and relationships, something he has personally benefited from.
MCAA’s Career Development Committee proudly awarded The University of Nebraska-Lincoln Student Chapter as MCAA’s 2020 Student Chapter of the Year for their continuously outstanding achievement as an organization of students who are planning careers in the mechanical construction industry.
The University of Nebraska Student Chapter is sponsored by the MCA of Omaha. Vishnu Reddi, Assistant Professor of Practice with the Durham School, College of Engineering, is the chapter’s faculty advisor. Together, this chapter managed to get creative to not only survive but thrive during an incredibly challenging year.
Community Service
The student chapter volunteered to be judges at the NAWIC Block Kids event in January 2020.
MCA-Omaha participates in a variety of community service events each year. In January, their student chapter volunteered to be judges at the NAWIC Block Kids event. This event encourages kids from kindergarten to sixth grade to build new inventions out of Lego blocks related to the construction industry. In 2020 their group had twelve volunteer judges, their largest group yet! As volunteer judges, the students interacted with the kids and helped spark their imaginations and interest in construction.
Their student chapter participated in the annual Heat’s On Omaha and Heat’s On Lincoln event in the fall. Heat’s On consists of HVAC service members traveling with a student chapter member to the homes of elderly community members to inspect their furnaces before winter. There, the service members and the students inspect the filter, flame, sensors, flue gas, and check the batteries in all the smoke detectors. In 2020, four students participated in Heat’s On Omaha, which included one brand new member, and three students participated in Heat’s On Lincoln. Unfortunately, the students were not able to travel with the service members due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but were there to support the event by handing out sweatshirts, masks, and breakfasts.
A third community service event that was scheduled for 2020 was Domination Donation. This is a brand-new event created by the University of Nebraska student chapter that is a competition between local contractors to see who can raise the most money for a charitable cause. Due to COVID-19 this event was postponed. It will now kickoff this year.
The 2020 members of the MCA-Omaha Leadership Academy
Career Development
MCA-Omaha provides numerous career development opportunities for the MCA-Omaha Leadership Academy. The students are able to gain experience and explore the industry through networking events, mentorships, internships, and full-time employment opportunities. Many events and fundraisers are held throughout the year, all of which are led by committees of MCA-Omaha Leadership Academy students. These events include beer tasting, wine tasting, golf outing, community service, competition, and recruitment. The committees include academy students, a student chair, as well as multiple local MCA-Omaha contractors interested in helping with the event. Many of these contractors have been a part of the student academy in the past and can provide insight from past events.
The mentor program is at the core of every student’s career development opportunities within MCA-Omaha Leadership Academy. Each student within the academy is paired with a contractor from a local MCA-Omaha company. The students are paired with their mentors based on their specific interests about the industry. Mentors engage with the students through a variety of required activities throughout the year. One activity involves the mentor taking the student to their company’s office to show them what daily work looks like for them. Another activity is taking the student for a job walk at a current job site to see how construction projects operate. Other events include getting lunch or coffee together and attending an MCA-Omaha event together. This program is a great way for students to gain experience and knowledge about the industry from a local professional.
Students meet with their mentors.
Throughout their involvement with the MCA-Omaha Leadership Academy, each student is paired with a mentor from a local company, has the opportunity to intern with a local contractor, and has the chance to serve on a committee with MCA-Omaha contractors. These networking opportunities are extremely beneficial to academy members, and the goal is for each academy student to carry those personal relationships into their future careers.
Competition
The University of Nebraska student chapter has participated in the MCAA Student Chapter Competition since it was started. The student competition this year certainly looked a bit different, but these students used this as an opportunity to find new solutions given the circumstances. Their team arranged to have three meetings with local contractors to ask questions via Zoom, which they admit was a bit challenging since they couldn’t be as hands on with learning by looking through plans together in person. However, they were eventually able to have one socially distanced meeting in person, which was the most useful to their team.
Recruitment
The MCA-Omaha Leadership Academy works extremely hard to continue to find responsible and dedicated student leaders to join the academy. The unprecedented challenges this year yielded many creative solutions to continue to reach out to new students, however the chapter persevered.
Students handed out fliers and applications during a socially distanced recruitment fair in August.
Their first event in August was a socially distanced recruitment fair in Lincoln. During the recruitment fair the students handed out flyers and applications, as well as had an estimating game to play for a chance to win a prize. The chapter also converted their annual in person Q&A event to a virtual Q&A, offering four $25 gift cards for any new student who logged on. This was an opportunity for them to meet and have a current member answer any questions they had. Three new students joined and all received gift cards.
In addition to providing virtual opportunities and reaching out to students by word of mouth, the chapter utilized the University’s E-Blasts to share information about the academy with a Facebook link, as well as a slide on the Engineering College’s hallway TVs for students still able to attend in person classes. In total, four new students joined their chapter, which is a huge success due to having to utilize virtual recruitment strategies.
Fund Raising
MCA-Omaha is fortunate to have support from over 30 local mechanical contractors. Their chapter typically hosts multiple events each year which gives students the opportunity to network with these contractors and raise funds for their chapter. Despite all of the challenges in 2020, they were still able to raise a total $10,031 from their fundraising events.
Students at the golf outing raffle in October.
Two of their four traditional fundraising events were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Fortunately, the golf outing raffle in October proceeded with a few modifications. Instead of announcing the raffle winners live, a large white board with numbers was used to display the prize winners, that way the participants could grab-and-go with their boxed lunches. Their Golf Outing chair recorded a video message and sent out an MCA Omaha E-Blast announcing three mystery winners who each received $500 cash. Overall, they raised $1,192 at their 2020 golf outing.
Their wine tasting in November took place in a virtual setting and was a huge success. They were even honored to be joined by MCAA President Brian Helm. Typically, this event involves the student members serving various wines and cheeses to contractors who purchase a table at the event. The wine committee worked together to move this event virtually, by delivering 5 bottles of wine to each household for them to sample and enjoy. The deliveries were a great way for students to visit MCA Omaha companies and see their offices. For this event they raised $8,839, their most profitable wine tasting to date!
Field Trips
As a part of being involved with the MCA-Omaha Leadership Academy, each student must take a job site visit with their mentor, as well as visit their office. With 20 members in 2020, that is 20+ field trips through their mentor program alone! Unfortunately, all the other scheduled group trips this year were cancelled.
Internships with Mechanical Contractors
In 2020, out of the 20 current students and 4 new members, the chapter had 15 (63%) of students have internships with MCAA companies with 91% of the group having some sort of internship. Each year, students have the opportunity to participate in Internship Day in the fall. Internship Day is where students can interview with multiple MCAA contractors looking for interns the next summer and are placed where they would be the best fit. One benefit of 2020 is that the students found themselves with a lot more free time on their hands with virtual learning and many were able to work part-time during the fall of 2020 and especially during the long winter break from Thanksgiving to mid-January. Of their four new members, three have been accepted for an internship during the school year and for summer 2021.
Employment
The chapter had one student graduate in December 2020. He is currently employed with Helm Group, an MCAA member, meaning they had all (100%) of their graduates employed with mechanical contractors last year!
Congratulations to The University of Nebraska-Lincoln Student Chapter on this well-deserved recognition!
MCAA is so excited that our Virtual Education Conference (VEC) | Essential Learning for Unconventional Times, is almost here! Next week starts off with MCAA’s Annual Student Chapter Competition on Monday, March 22nd from 12:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. ET and you will not want to miss it. Get to know the final four teams before the big competition!
Fairleigh Dickinson University
MCAA’s student chapter at Fairleigh Dickinson University was chartered in 2003. Wonjae Choi, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, is the current faculty advisor.
The FDU chapter has entered the MCAA Student Chapter Competition every year since 2004. They competed in the Final Four at the 2018 MCAA Convention in San Antonio. In 2010, 2015, 2017 and 2019, the chapter placed in the top 10 and received a Certificate of Merit recognizing their achievement.
The chapter received Emerging Chapter grants in 2004 and 2007. They also received a Chapter of Excellence Grant in 2005, 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2020.
Meet Fairleigh Dickinson’s competition team: (The competition team consisted of all Mechanical Engineering majors) Francis Castro, Class of 2021 Keion Oglesby, Class of 2021 Andrew Sayad, Class of 2022 Natalie Stanton, Class of 2021 Alejandro Zapata, Class of 2021
Kansas State University
Kansas State University’s chapter received its charter at the 2010 Convention in San Francisco. The chapter’s current faculty advisors are Paul Karr and Jongchul Song. KSU has consistently participated in the student competition since 2011. Chapter members have attended all of the MCAA Conventions and Student Chapter Summits and GreatFutures Forums since it was chartered.
The chapter received an Emerging Chapter Grant in 2011, 2014 and again in 2019. They received a Chapter of Excellence Grant in 2018 and 2020.
Meet Kansas State University’s competition team: Annie Burnam, Construction Science and Management, Class of 2021 Collin Champagne, Construction Science and Management, Class of 2022 Carlos Espino, Architectural Engineering, Class of 2024 Kayla Huffman, Architectural Engineering, Class of 2022 Trevor Waggoner, Architectural Engineering , Class of 2022 Peyton Winter, Construction Science and Management, Class of 2024
Missouri State University
Missouri State’s student chapter was charted in the Spring of 2017 and the chapter has been incredibly involved in MCAA’s Career Development Initiative, attending every GreatFutures Forum and Convention since. Jacob Nelson is the current faculty advisor.
Meet Missouri State University’s competition team: (The competition team consisted of all Construction Management majors) Nathan Bextermueller, Class of 2022 Cole Eiler, Class of 2021 Tanner Hartman, Class of 2021 Cabriah Hillman, Class of December 2021 Keagan Hosman, Class of 2022 Ryan Sweeny, Class of 2023
Virginia Tech, Blacksburg Campus
MCAA’s student chapter at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg Campus was chartered in 2007. The chapter has consistently participated in MCAA events, and their local MCA of Metro Washington hosted MCAA’s last GreatFutures Forum in Washington, D.C. in 2019.
Most recently, their student chapter was awarded an Emerging Chapter Grant in 2020.
Georg Reichard, PhD, PE has been the faculty advisor of this student chapter from the start and still stands as the faculty advisor today.
Meet the Virginia Tech Blacksburg Campus competition team: (The competition team consisted of all Building Construction majors) Ke’Aja (KJ) Jefferson, Class of 2021 Andrew Nguyen, Class of 2021 Justin Zeigmont, Class of December 2021
MCAA and the John R. Gentille Foundation (JRGF) congratulate all of the finalists and recognize their commitment and dedication to this year’s project.
Ted McHugh left college with an education geared more towards a career in general contracting, with limited knowledge of the mechanical industry. However, he applied for a job at West Chester Mechanical Contractors, Inc. and quickly gained experience in various roles within the company.
Ted shares insight into the time and interest he put into researching the company and emphasizes that this is an important part of their hiring process, “When we’re hiring, we’re looking for somebody who’s interested in the company, interested in our industry and knows a little bit about it. Come into an interview and ask questions.”
A current MCAA Career Development committee member, Ted talks with passion when describing the variety of opportunities the mechanical industry offers to meet individual interests, and he is a great example of what you can achieve if you develop an interest and passion for the industry.
MCAA members looking for talented young people to ensure their companies’ future competitiveness can get a helping hand from the MCAA’s GreatFutures Job Board. Visit the board and login with your MCAA.org password to post your company’s internship and job opportunities. While you’re there, be sure to browse the student resumes to connect with potential matches. If you have any questions, please reach out to Megan Walsh.
Thank you to all students who submitted applications for the 2020 John R. Gentille Foundation (JRGF) Scholarships, the Student Chapter of the Year Award, and who nominated an Educator of the Year! All award winners will be announced on Thursday, March 25th from 11:00 am-12:00 pm EST during MCAA’s Virtual Education Conference.
JRGF offers several scholarships as part of its commitment to funding the next generation of mechanical contracting leaders. JRGF and its generous donors are proud to present the following scholarships:
Foster McCarl, Jr. Memorial Scholarship – The John R. Gentille Foundation (JRGF) has established a $2,500 scholarship to commemorate its founder, Foster McCarl, Jr. and to honor his memory. This national scholarship will symbolize the scope of Mr. McCarl’s impact on the mechanical contracting industry and memorialize his many contributions to its continuing advancement.
Reilly Family Memorial Scholarship – The John W. Danforth Company has established a $5,000 scholarship to commemorate the memory of its leadership, the Reilly Family. Danforth is a charter member of the MCAA. Kevin “Duke” Reilly served as Danforth’s Chairman/CEO. Wayne, Patrick and Emmett Reilly contributed a combined 128 years of commitment and loyalty to their company and the industry. This national scholarship will symbolize the Reillys’ many contributions to the mechanical contracting industry.
William A. Bianco, Jr. Memorial Scholarship – Kinetics has established a $5,000 scholarship to commemorate William A. Bianco, Jr. and to honor his memory. This national scholarship will symbolize the scope of Mr. Bianco’s impact on the mechanical contracting industry and memorialize his many contributions to its continuing advancement.
Ferguson – Women in the Mechanical Industry Scholarship(Open to female students) – Ferguson is sponsoring two $5,000 scholarships for two worthy female students invested in career in the mechanical contracting industry.
Alan P. O’Shea Memorial Scholarship – The Mechanical Contractors Association of New Jersey has established two $2,500 scholarships to honor the memory of Alan P. O’Shea, former Executive Director of the MCA of New Jersey. These national scholarships will memorialize Mr. O’Shea’s many contributions to the mechanical contracting industry.
If you wish to apply, please email your completed application, your resume, and a letter of recommendation to Megan Walsh at mwalsh@mcaa.orgby the end of the day.
The Student Chapter of the Year Award recognizes an MCAA student chapter for outstanding achievement as an organization of students who are planning careers in the mechanical construction industry. The award recognizes exceptional achievement in governance and leadership, membership recruiting, fundraising, community involvement, and career development. Apply now!
The Educator of the Year Award recognizes MCAA student chapter faculty advisors for exceptional accomplishment as advisors, educators, and mentors of students who plan to develop a professional career with the mechanical construction industry. Nominate your faculty advisor today!
A Notre Dame graduate in Mechanical Engineering, Anne Finerfrock was unsure which direction she wanted to take her career in. She knew she did not want to sit behind a desk but had no answers to an important question: is that a viable career option? Fortunately, Anne spent time at a career fair and began a conversation with a mechanical contracting company. Investing her time to seek out answers resulted in an internship at this company and her first step into the industry.
Anne speaks highly of the endless opportunities provided to individuals in a similar position, “The advantage of working for a mechanical contractor versus a large GC is that you really get involved in all aspects of the project.” Now a Project Manager at W.E. Bowers, Anne credits the MCAA GreatFutures program for providing opportunities to explore career options and internship possibilities that offer 8 to 10 weeks of first-hand experience.
