2/26/2001
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State University Construction Management Program students placed third in the National Association of Home Builders student competition in Atlanta.
"We always do fairly well at the competition, usually placing within the top 10, but this place means we are doing even better now and improving all the time," said Paul Streng, a construction management program faculty member and adviser for the MSU group.
Six MSU students from the Construction Management Program competed for the award.
They are Dominic Crespo from Okemos, Jimmy Isaac from Clare, Steve Kerber from Williamston, Jon Nelson from South Haven, Michael Ross from Grand Rapids and Dan Zlydaszyk from Lansing.
The competition was divided into two segments. First, the group had to submit a complete written professional management proposal for the development of a 96-unit townhouse community in Raleigh, N.C.
The proposal included a complete estimate of costs associated with the project, a schedule for the completion of the community, marketing plan, budget, cash-flow analysis, company organizational structure and other related documentation.
For the second part of the competition, the group gave a professional presentation of their proposal to five construction industry professionals, including the manager of the project upon which the competition was based.
"The requirements of the competition are all part of what a professional builder/developer would do if he or she were out in the real world," Streng said. "The presentation was like one a developer would give to a planning commission or city council to present the ideas."
Teams from 20 universities participated in the competition, which was held in conjunction with the International Builders Show.
Here are comments from students in the program about the third-place finish:
Michael Ross
(He is the son of Robert and Shirley Ross of Grand Rapids.)
"I was extremely pleased with placing third. It is wonderful to have all the hard work we put into our proposal and presentation rewarded in such a way. This was an outstanding accomplishment for our team due mainly to the fact that we only had one senior, Jon Nelson, with the knowledge necessary for this sort of thing."
Jonathan Nelson
(He is the son of Jeff and Susan Nelson of Perrysburg, Ohio, and Lee Nelson of South Haven.)
"I felt very honored to be able to be part of the team that represented our university in this competition. As for the team as a whole, I think that it gave us all a chance to make some new friends and learn how to come together as a team and produce a high quality final project/presentation."
Jimmy Isaac
(He is the son of Janet and Allen Isaac of Farwell.)
"Our motivation this year was to get a score that Michigan State has never received before, and third place is the highest MSU has ever placed. Now our motivation next year will be to push ourselves even harder and farther to place even better and better."
Dan Zlydaszyk
(He is the son of James and Colleen Zlydaszyk of Lansing.)
"We put a lot of hard work into this project and it felt great to see it pay off. It says a great deal about the quality of the education provided by the MSU Construction Management Program."
Steve Kerber
(He is the son of Claudia and Dan Peterson of Williamston, and Ronald and Kathy Kerber of Charlottesville, Va.)
"It was an extreme honor to represent the university in such a competitive competition. We put MSU back as a powerhouse in the construction management field."
Dominic Crespo
(He is the son of Delores Lund of Okemos.)
"I am very pleased that we were able to place third in the nation at this competition. I was on this team last year and we placed sixth. It feels good to be able to move up like this and know you have made a substantial improvement."