EVERETT — Put dozens of high school students, tools, building materials and problems to solve in a giant room and what do you get?
You get the Jan. 15 qualifying rally of the AEM Construction Challenge for high school students. It was the only qualifier to be held west of Oklahoma for this international competition.
The overall winner of the rally was a team from Meridian High School in Bellingham. Lakewood High School’s team, representing Snohomish County, took second place. A team from Dana Hills High School in Dana Point, Calif., came in third.
The top 24 teams from regional rallies across the U.S. and Canada will face off at the CONEXPO-CON/AGG construction industry exposition in Las Vegas on March 21-25.
The Construction Challenge is a joint effort by the Association of Equipment Manufacturers and Destination ImagiNation. The event challenges teams of high school students by handing them one of three problems to solve cooperatively and on the spot.
These practical problems are based on the development of a transportation infrastructure, solving a water infrastructure problem to improve water quality or the presentation of research on a critical local infrastructure issue.
The prime idea behind the event is to engage and motivate young people who may have a budding interest in the construction industry. Future construction career choices presented to students are in the areas of engineering, project management, service, marketing, graphic design and more.
The Western Washington Sheet Metal Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee on Beverly Park Road near Paine Field hosted the regional rally for western states. More than 35 teams were registered for this event. Teams were made up of five to seven students each with an adult adviser to act as a chaperone.
Each individual challenge was timed and strictly monitored to ensure the students did all of the work themselves and without any outside help. Cell phones and other electronics had to be checked at the door. Adult observers were accompanied by event chaperones to ensure they did not speak with or disturb the students.
Challenges required a high level of creativity and cooperation and involved building and engineering skills. At the end of one 20-minute challenge period, a student from Renton’s Lindbergh High School said, “You don’t really realize how little time 20 minutes is until you do this.”
In between challenges and over the lunch break, students had an opportunity to meet with many industry professionals and mix with other teens from as far away as California and Montana.
“It really is a wonderful opportunity,” said Sue Z. Hart, rally leader and president of the Puget Sound Chapter of the National Association of Women in Construction.
Since its inception, the Construction Challenge has been experienced by more than 10,000 students in North America with nearly 70 percent of those students indicating that they would consider a career in construction.
Hart says this is good news for an industry that is expected to be hit with waves of upcoming baby boomer retirements. The average age of a construction worker currently stands at 52.
Some estimates also suggest that the construction field will need to add 1 million jobs to the work force by 2012 in order to keep pace with demand.
Sponsors see the Construction Challenge as a way to attract future employees and educate them about rewarding careers and lucrative careers in the industry.
Volvo Construction Equipment and Caterpillar also were sponsors of the event.
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