Archives: News Items

Congratulations to Bruno Portes, Recipient of the Robert T. Armistead Memorial Scholarship

Congratulations to Bruno Portes, one of two recipients of the Robert T. Armistead Memorial Scholarship. This $5,000 scholarship was established in 2024 by Armistead Mechanical, Inc. and the family of Robert “Bob” Armistead to symbolize his leadership, dedication, and impact on the mechanical contracting industry. In honor of Bob’s service as MCAA President, the selected winners are required to have served in the role as their local student chapter president.

Bruno is a Mechanical Engineering student at Fairleigh Dickinson University and graduating in May. He is an active member of his student chapter, served as President, Vice President, and Recruitment Chair, and interned at MCAA Member, Mid-Atlantic Mechanical. Post-graduation, Bruno will be continuing on at Mid-Atlantic as a full-time Project Engineer.

“Mechanical construction, unlike many other industries, offers a variety of roles to apply yourself. There’s so many roles within mechanical that helps me as a young adult not be so worried about picking a career and being afraid of regretting it. As a future mechanical engineer graduate, I can use my skills to be a project manager, an estimator, part of scheduling, and even go into management in the future if I would like.

This sort of flexibility allows for me to grow into a career that I will be happy to be in. Moreover, many of the “engineer” things that I find cool like reading drawings, discussing solutions, and building things are all part of it. I could be part of bidding, drawing, and building something. That’s like the best of three worlds and I love that!“

MCAA and the John R. Gentille Foundation congratulate Bruno on this prestigious scholarship and thank Armistead Mechanical, Inc. and the family of Robert T. Armistead for their commitment to supporting students interested in pursuing a career in the mechanical contracting industry.

Secure a Pool of Qualified Applicants This Summer: MCAA’s Internship & Recruitment Guides Can Help

Internship season is officially here and fall student chapter recruitment plans will quickly follow. MCAA has two resources currently available to help secure a pool of qualified future employees.

Internships

Having interns working at MCAA member companies is a win-win for the mechanical contracting industry. Employers get top talent and build a pipeline for future employees. Students gain experience, create connections, develop skills and further their interest in mechanical contracting.

Internship Guide

The guide includes these tools for MCAA members looking to create or improve their internship program, but might not know where to start:

Hot Sauce Guide
Internship Best Practices
Industry Orientation Day
Hire Me October

Recruitment

MCAA Student Chapters are an excellent place to find your next great hire! Spending an hour or two on campus assisting with student chapter recruitment could result in a new student that could be your next rockstar project engineer upon graduation. The first step is creating awareness about the mechanical industry as a whole, which is a team effort that typically includes the faculty advisor, student chapter members, local execs, and MCAA Members.

Recruitment Guide

Get tailored resources for everyone to help pitch in and support our student chapters with their recruitment efforts on campus, including:

PowerPoint Template + Customization Guide (students)
Flyer Template + Customization Guide (students)
Recruitment Idea List (faculty)
Recruitment Timeline (faculty)
Recruitment Guide Best Practices for Members (members)
Recruitment Guide Best Practices for Execs (Association Execs)

New Resource – Coming Fall 2025

The MCAA Career Development Committee is hard at work getting ready to roll out the next resource, “Mechanical Education in the Classroom”. This guide will be available at the end of summer, timed perfectly for use on campus this fall, and is intended to highlight MCAA resources that can be useful to fill the curriculum gap. New hires and office staff are also encouraged to check it out to assist with the alphabet soup of mechanical and knowing where to start to feel more confident when speaking the lingo.

If you have questions or need assistance, please reach out to MCAA’s Michele Hoffman.

Visit MCAA’s Career Development Initiative page to learn more about student chapter programming.

Congratulations to Shelby Gustafson, Recipient of the Bolton Family Scholarship

Congratulations to Shelby Gustafson, the recipient of the Bolton Family Scholarship. This $5,000 scholarship was established in 2024 to pay tribute to the significant contributions that the Boltons have provided to the construction industry and the dedicated service they have provided to the employees of Arden Building Companies.

The scholarship honors the family’s dedicated volunteer work within the communities they service in Rhode Island, notably their efforts in aiding children from Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking backgrounds in mastering the English language within the school system and their improvements with the Ronald McDonald House. The scholarship embodies the values of service, community engagement and support for those in need that have been integral to the Bolton family’s legacy.

Shelby is studying Construction Management at California State University, Chico and is expecting to graduate in May 2026. She has served her student chapter as Vice President and has interned with MCAA Member, ACCO Engineered Systems since 2023.

“To me, it seems like there’s never a dull moment in mechanical construction. There is always something new to learn or a new code to adhere to. Being at the forefront of sustainability and energy efficiency, I am confident that the industry will be ever expanding for years to come. The ever-developing systems create a challenge themselves along with other factors affecting it. Even just learning how the systems work fascinates me. The simple complexity of it all has made me fall in love with it from the beginning.

Throughout the summer I was busy and having the time of my life. The project team I was with was extremely helpful and I liked how much they trusted me to perform work for them. I felt valuable to the team at ACCO and not just a paper pusher. I also loved a lot of the job sites they allowed me to bid out. My favorite part of the summer was doing quantity take offs for a data center and a quantum computer project. Already getting to be a part of these life changing systems has made me even more enthusiastic to pursue a career in mechanical contracting.”

MCAA and the John R. Gentille Foundation congratulate Shelby on this prestigious scholarship and thank the Bolton Family and Arden Building Companies for their commitment to supporting students interested in pursuing a career in the mechanical contracting industry.

Congratulations to Braidyn Hudson, Recipient of the Alan P. O’Shea Memorial Scholarship

Congratulations to Braidyn Hudson, one of the two recipients of the Alan P. O’Shea Memorial Scholarship. The Mechanical Contractors Association of New Jersey established these scholarships to honor the memory of Alan P. O’Shea, it’s former Executive Director, and to memorialize his many contributions to the mechanical contracting industry. The scholarships were presented by David G. Strobino (MCA of New Jersey President) and Phil Petillo (MCA of New Jersey Executive Director) at the MCAA25 Awards of Excellence Breakfast in Austin on March 5^th.

Braidyn anticipates graduating from Indiana State University in May 2027 with a degree in construction management. He has been active in his student chapter since 2023 and has held the positions of Treasurer and Fundraising Chair. This summer, Braidyn will be interning with MCAA Member, BMWC Constructors.

The opportunities the student chapter gave me these last few years were amazing. I had a chance to travel to the 2024 MCAA Convention in Orlando due to my active involvement with the competition. There, I was able to meet so many people, many who I was able to reconnect with in Seattle at the GreatFutures Forum this past fall. Being involved in the competition and getting help from our industry advisors allowed me to get insider knowledge into the industry before other students in my school. I know this knowledge will allow me to succeed and advance in my career.

Outside of school, MCAA helped me get an internship at BMWC Constructors last summer and plant the seeds of good relations between myself and others in the industry as well.

Five years from now, I expect to be in some sort of project engineer position immediately following graduation. This is the position I have been exposed to the most through my internships. I’m pursing a double major and getting an accounting degree as well as my construction management degree. This was done to gain the knowledge of how to properly handle a company’s finances and budget a project. I hope the experience I will have gained while in school and with the student chapter will allow me to advance at an escalated rate within a company. Depending on what areas I enjoy the most in the industry, I could also see myself in an estimating position as well.”

MCAA and the John R. Gentille Foundation congratulate Braidyn on this prestigious scholarship and thank the MCA of New Jersey for their commitment to supporting students interested in pursuing a career in the mechanical contracting industry.

Save the Date for MCAA’s 2025 GreatFutures Forum

Although summer ’25 isn’t quite here yet, it’s already time to start the process for securing your summer ’26 interns! Save the date for the 2025 MCAA GreatFutures Forum (October 9-11, 2025) in Salt Lake City, Utah. Conference registration, including the Job Fair, is complimentary for MCAA Members, MCAA Student Chapter Members, Faculty Advisors, Affiliated Association Executives and Forum Sponsors. Registration will open on July 1^st.

Congratulations to Aidan Wolownik, Recipient of the Thomas J. Wanner Memorial Scholarship

Congratulations to Aidan Wolownik, the 2024-2025 recipient of the Thomas J. Wanner Memorial Scholarship. This scholarship, which was established in 2022, was created to honor the previous MCA/MSCA of Cleveland, Inc. Executive Director, Thomas J. Wanner. For the past three scholarship presentations, Tom was on stage to help present the scholarship in person, but this year was unable to travel and passed away two days after the awards breakfast. He is sorely missed and fondly remembered by the entire MCAA family.

Tom became the Executive Director of the Mechanical and Plumbing Contractors Association in the Greater Cleveland area in 1986. As the association executive, he focused tirelessly on labor relations, collective bargaining, education and training, legislation, codes and business operations for over three decades. He served as a trustee, a chair and member on numerous local industry, business, and civic organizations.

The current scholarship recipient, Aidan Wolownik, is studying construction management at Pittsburg State University and is anticipated to graduate this May. Aidan has been a member of the student chapter since 2022 and has held the roles of Fundraising Chair and President. Upon graduation, Aidan will join MCAA Member, Lippert Mechanical Service Corporation as an Assistant Project Manager.

“What is most appealing to me about mechanical construction is that we make a building come alive. Essentially, the general contractor builds the skeleton and mechanical contractors go in and put all the organs together. This plays a huge role in our world today. Without mechanical contracting, buildings are nothing but walls.

Likewise, what I’ve gained by being involved with MCAA is hands down the networking. Networking plays a whole role in the mechanical industry, and with networking comes connections. After graduation, I hope to be able to support my chapter by being an alumni advisor.”

MCAA and the John R. Gentille Foundation congratulate Aidan on this prestigious scholarship and thank the MCA/MSCA of Cleveland, Inc. for their commitment to supporting students interested in pursuing a career in the mechanical contracting industry.

Summer’s Coming—Is Your Workforce Ready? Attract Top Interns and New Grads Now on the MCAA GreatFutures Job Board!

There are still plenty of students looking for the perfect summer job. Whether your company is in need of a new project manager, estimator, or a few new interns, posting to the MCAA GreatFutures Job Board is a quick and easy way to attract fresh new talent looking for opportunities across the country. The job board was created to highlight entry level (no experience required) positions in the mechanical contracting industry and is a complimentary resource for MCAA Members.

How to Post an Entry-Level Job or Internship

Login with an MCAA username and password.
Click on the job board within the Career Development page.
Click Manage My Jobs and Add a Job to create your posting.

Jobs remain active for one month to ensure postings stay fresh.
When the job is set to expire, a reminder will be sent for you to either “mark as filled” or “duplicate” and repost for another month.
Interested students can view postings and submit their contact information and resume.

Your office will be notified via email when interested students submit their resume.
From there, your office is encouraged to continue with your company’s application and interview process.

VIEW JOB BOARD

New jobs are highlighted every two weeks on the mcaagreatfutures Instagram page.

If you have questions or need assistance, please reach out to MCAA’s Michele Hoffman.

Visit MCAA’s Career Development Initiative page to learn more about student chapter programming or the JRGF website to explore the work that the John R. Gentille Foundation (JRGF) is doing to further education in the mechanical industry.

Congratulations to Jaden Doebelin, Recipient of the DEWALT Patriot Scholarship

Congratulations to Jaden Doebelin, one of two recipients of the 2024-2025 DEWALT Patriot Scholarship. The scholarship, now in its fourth year, was created to recognize two veterans, or those who are currently serving in the United States military, who have valiantly served their country and have chosen to enter a career in the construction industry. Thank you to DEWALT for honoring our military and to our scholarship recipients for their service to our country. These two special scholarships were presented at the MCAA Awards of Excellence Breakfast in Austin, TX on March 5^th by Jon Howland (U.S. Navy Veteran) and David Steiner.

Jaden Doebelin has been serving in the United States Iowa Army National Guard for over five years and is currently a non-commissioned officer, holding the rank of Sergeant. He is in charge of a mortar firing team comprised of three other soldiers. His main job is to ensure safe, timely, and accurate fires as a battalion asset. Over the course of his military career, he has been promoted for his drive for learning and passion for leadership.

Jaden is studying Construction Engineering and will graduate this May from Iowa State University. He previously interned with MCAA Member, Baker Group, and plans on working full-time at a mechanical contracting company upon graduation.

“My position as a service project manager intern allowed me to see a little bit of everything and get exposed to things I learned in school; this also allowed me to ask all the questions I wanted and expand my knowledge in different areas of the mechanical world.

Throughout my involvement with the MCAA student chapter, I have been a member for two years and also served as President. One of the main things I’ve gained from this experience is how big the mechanical industry is. I realized I’m a part of a community that strives for lifelong learning, being an intentional leader/coworker, and networking. I recently attended the 2025 GreatFutures Forum in Seattle and was able to reconnect with peers I made at MCAA24 in Orlando. This solidified the uniqueness of the mechanical industry and the importance of building relationships early on. You truly never know who you are going to run into someday.

Five years from now I hope to be a project manager, potentially leading and mentoring a team or other coworkers in life and the workplace. I want to utilize my experiences by starting slowly and ensuring I understand everything before becoming a project manager. Through my military experience, I gained a passion for leadership and mentorship. I believe having the ambition to be a lifelong learner and having people in your life to help you reach your aspirations and goals is crucial. I believe obtaining those qualities throughout my experiences will benefit me tremendously in the mechanical industry.”

MCAA and the John R. Gentille Foundation congratulate Jaden on this prestigious scholarship and thank DEWALT Industrial Tool Company for their commitment to supporting students interested in pursuing a career in the mechanical contracting industry.

Congratulations to Jennifer Tartaglia, Recipient of the EVAPCO, Inc. Engineering Scholarship

Congratulations to Jennifer Tartaglia, one of two recipients of the 2024-2025 EVAPCO, Inc. Engineering Scholarship. These brand new $5,000 scholarships were designed to recognize and encourage students whose goal is to pursue a degree in Mechanical Engineering or Civil Engineering, or a field of study relevant to mechanical contracting/ equipment manufacturing that supports the mechanical contracting industry. The scholarships made their debut at the MCAA Convention in Austin, TX during the Awards of Excellence Breakfast on March 5th.

Jennifer Tartaglia is a Mechanical Engineering major at the University of Maryland, College Park and is anticipated to graduate this spring. She has been an active member of her student chapter for the past two years and currently serves as the UMD Student Chapter President. Last summer, Jennifer interned with MCAA Member, Harris.

“Mechanical construction has a unique appeal due to its combination of hands-on work, problem-solving, and precision. I find the challenge of translating intricate plans into actual structures rewarding, as it demands a balance of technical skills and adaptability. There’s also a tangible impact; you see your efforts directly shape the environment, which is incredibly satisfying. Plus, the constant innovation in materials, systems, and methods keeps things fresh, offering endless opportunities to learn and grow.

I love that I am able to apply the knowledge I’ve learned as a student chapter member and as a mechanical engineering major to tangible applications.”

MCAA and the John R. Gentille Foundation congratulate Jennifer on this prestigious scholarship and thank EVAPCO, Inc. for their commitment to supporting students interested in pursuing a career in the mechanical contracting industry.

Congratulations to Brady Thompson, Recipient of the Reilly Family Memorial Scholarship

Congratulations to Brady Thompson, the 2024-2025 recipient of the Reilly Family Memorial Scholarship, which honors the late owners (Wayne, Patrick, and Emmett Reilly) of the John W. Danforth Company, one of the preeminent and charter members of MCAA.

Brady is a Construction Management major at the University of Nebraska at Omaha with an anticipated graduation of May 2026. He has been an active member of his student chapter since 2022 and has served as both Treasurer and Vice President. This summer, he is interning with MCAA Member, Prairie Mechanical Corporation.

“The time I have spent with Prairie Mechanical over this past school year and summer has been life changing. Through Prairie, my knowledge of mechanical systems has grown exponentially. This growth has not only made me a better project manager, but also taught me how to become an estimator. I have started to run small projects and assist the estimating team with pre-construction bids. My experience at Prairie has exposed me to a variety or projects, both big and small, allowing me to understand the different types of mechanical systems.”

“My local chapter in Omaha is particularly active. Some of my most memorable experiences were attending the GreatFutures Forum in Boston and the MCAA Convention in Florida last year. These events deepened my passion for the mechanical construction industry. To remain actively involved with MCAA, I plan to mentor future students and collaborate with the leaders of Nebraska’s chapter to continue advancing the impact on student chapter members.”

MCAA and the John R. Gentille Foundation congratulate Brady on this prestigious scholarship and thank the John W. Danforth Company for their commitment to supporting students interested in pursuing a career in the mechanical contracting industry.