Construction Challenge Winners Announced

An Oklahoma team has won the first Construction Challenge held at the recently concluded ConExpo-Con/Agg trade show held in Las Vegas.

Teams from Illinois, New Jersey, Ohio and Texas also took home top honors in the teen competition, which was initiated by the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM).

More than 50 student teams competed at the event, held March 11-13 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The teams built pieces of “construction equipment,” debated other teams on infrastructure issues and created interactive educational products to help spread the word about construction careers and equipment.

First place went to a team from Perry High School in Perry, Okla. Team members were Amy Bieberdorf, Kelsey Cave, Evan Williams, Cassandra Bratcher, Daniel Cross, Dakota Johnson and Trevor Kukuk.

Each team member won a $2,000 scholarship and a computer.

A total of seven teams won titles and prizes. The team taking third place, the only all-girl team in the competition, also won first place in two of the three challenges, Dialogue and Product Development. Their product, a coloring book for young girls, will now be used by the construction industry as an educational tool to introduce more young people to careers in construction.

The construction industry will create more than 1 million new jobs by 2012, but currently, there are not enough skilled workers to fill all the jobs. The AEM, in partnership with Destination ImagiNation Inc., initiated the Construction challenge specifically to engage the interests of teens in careers in the industry through a hands-on educational experience.

More information, including a full roster of winners, is available online at www.ConstructionChallenge.org.