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 HFM
team wins statewide construction contest
Students to travel to Florida in February for national contest
Construction work is difficult enough without the added pressure
of a time limit and dozens of people standing behind you
critiquing your every move.
That was the scenario four HFM BOCES construction students faced
when they competed in the first-ever student Residential
Construction Competition, held during the 2007 New York State
Builders Show in Syracuse on Oct. 19.
“Every now and then you could hear somebody say, ‘Ooo, they
should have done it this way,’ and that just added to the
pressure,” said Alicia Brown, a senior from the Fonda-Fultonville
Central School District.
But
Brown and her three teammates – Jared Gendreau, Rob Reinig and
Aaron Suelter –brushed aside the pressure long enough to take
first place in the competition, beating out teams from Rockland
County, the Capital Region and elsewhere. Gendreau, Reinig and
Suelter are all seniors from the Broadalbin Perth Central School
District.
For
their efforts, the four earned a spot in the national
competition, a three-day event that will be held in Orlando,
Fla., in February 2008. The team also won $5,000 to pay for air
fare, hotel rooms and meals for the trip.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun,” Gendreau said.
 The
four students are each in their second year at HFM, where they
are learning carpentry, masonry, plumbing and electrical skills.
Students from the program are routinely recruited by top
construction companies from around the Capital Region and
northeastern New York State, said Todd Stallmer, one of two
building services teachers at HFM. Mark Tanner also teaches
construction trades.
The
construction competition was designed to offer real-life
residential construction experience, by giving students the
opportunity to demonstrate construction trade skills they have
learned.
Teams were given 30 minutes to construct frames for two walls,
hang drywall, and install a heating vent. The project was graded
on the accuracy and quality of the work, as well as how much
teams were able to complete in the time allotted, Stallmer said.
Teams were given only as much material as they needed to get the
job done, and they lost points if they were forced to use
additional material, Stallmer said. The project was designed so
teams were hard pressed to complete all of the work in the
allotted 30 minutes, he said.
“You didn’t see groups finish early. They were basically down to
the last minute on every one,” said Stallmer, who encouraged his
students to divide up the work so they would be as efficient as
possible and complete the work quickly, but accurately.
The
four students say they are excited for February and believe
they’ve got a reasonable chance to win.
“I’m pretty confident, but we have to see the blueprints first,”
Reinig said.
For
more information about the construction program,
click here.
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