Penn College Team Repeats as Builders' Show Champ

A team of two-year construction majors at Pennsylvania College of Technology grabbed a second consecutive first-place finish during competition at this week?s National Association of Home Builders' international convention in Orlando, Fla. Its four-year counterpart finished 10th in a strong 28-school field, and saw one of its members individually honored at Thursday's awards ceremony.

"To win two years in a row is outstanding," said coach Richard L. Druckenmiller, an instructor of building construction technology and Penn College's 2003 "Master Teacher" honoree. "It's an amazing accomplishment, considering the size of our College and who we were going up against." The top three finishers among two-year schools were the same as last year: Penn College, first; Brigham Young-Idaho, second; and Utah Valley State College, third.

Members of the two-year team were Benjamin Copenhaver, Reinholds, and Bradley E. Hughes, Franklin, Building Construction Technology; Trevor T. Krize, Birdsboro, and Thomas A. Fedor, Whitehall, Residential Construction Technology; and Douglas H. McGahen, Erie, Architectural Technology.

Fedor was a member of last year's first-place team that competed at the International Builders' Show in Las Vegas.

The Residential Construction Competition was held at the Orange County Convention Center, with teams engaged in a design-management challenge based on real-life conditions: the two-year group developed new drawings, an estimate, schedule, etc., for a single residential home; the four-year team completed an estimate, scheduling, marketing plan and customer-appreciation plan for a subdivision housing complex planned by Centex (the corporate sponsor of the competition).

"I am tremendously proud of both teams," Druckenmiller said, noting that the four-year team rose markedly from its 17th-place finish last year. "A 10th is outstanding considering the caliber of schools we were up against." Competition in that division, won by Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, included such large universities as Clemson, Purdue, Arizona State and Florida.

Members of the four-year team were Jeremy Tenio, Clarks Summit; David G. Mazaika Jr., McAdoo; David F. Hodgman, Chambersburg; John D. Morgan, Williamsport; and Connor McBride, Monmouth Beach, N.J. All are enrolled in the Residential Construction Technology and Management major.

Mazaika was singled out for a BuilderBooks.com "Outstanding Student Award," one of only a handful of competitors honored for grade-point average and years of service to his student chapter.

Other students who made the trip were Patrick D. Kiley, Gloucester Point, Va., Maxwell C. Kasten, Dresher, and Timothy J. Holton, Landenberg, Building Construction Technology; Jessica Sara Kay, South Williamsport, and Matthew Paul Stare, Dover, Residential Construction Management.

A crew from the award-winning "Penn College & You" television series, which has been following the team's preparations for competition, accompanied the group to Orlando to film additional footage for a program "Builders of Tomorrow" that will be broadcast in the spring.

The International Builders' Show is one of the largest conventions in the world, covering 1.5 million square feet of exhibit space with approximately 1,600 manufacturers introducing their building and construction products and services to more than 100,000 industry professionals from 95 countries.

For more information about construction-related majors at Penn College, call (570) 327-4518, send e-mail or visit on the Web .