On March 19, 2012, the Mechanical Contractors Association of America (MCAA) held its Student Chapter competition, in which teams of students from national universities prepare a written bid proposal and present it for judging. This year it was held at the MCAA Annual Convention at Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.
Twenty-seven teams entered the 2011-2012 competition, which was based on the Asian Art Museum renovation project in San Francisco, and required each team to present a bid on HVAC and plumbing renovations to the 165,000 sq.ft. historic building. Teams were judged on the proposal's overall quality, project management and organization, feasibility of construction, schedules, conceptual design, and accuracy/feasibility of conceptual costs.
Heaton Erecting's own Billy Hancock was a member of the team from Southern Polytechnic State University (SPSU), Marietta, GA. In addition to Billy, the team was captained by Trent Anderson and included: Daniel Epps (McKenney's, Inc), Sean Barden, Larnell Jewell, Brian Nelson, Eric Pagan, Tyrone Sheffield, Charles Wall (Brasfield & Gorrie) and Faculty Advisor Maureen Weidner. They competed against 27 teams from universities around the country such as: Colorado State, Iowa State, Perdue, Pittsburg State and the University of Wisconsin. In January of 2012 the SPSU team was announced as one of the four finalists along with California State University at Sacramento, Illinois State University, and Milwaukee School of Engineering. The final four teams presented their proposals to a three-judge panel and audience at the convention.
At an awards ceremony the team from SPSU was announced as the winner of the competition and awarded the grand prize of $5,000 for the university. This is a very prestigious award for SPSU as it is the first time a team from the university has competed and the first national title for the university. Team Heaton is immensely proud of these young men and wishes them all the best as they complete their degrees in Construction Management at SPSU.
