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K-State Today Student Edition

April 10, 2017

K-State's Associated General Contractors student chapter attends national convention

Submitted by Frank Sandoval

The Kansas State University student chapter of the Associated General Contractors of Kansas recently traveled to Las Vegas, Nevada, to attend the annual AGC of America National Convention.

Eleven student chapter officers and two faculty advisors traveled to and participated in the convention, March 6-9, in conjunction with the CONEXPO-CON/AGG trade show. The expo featured more than 2,500 exhibitors, 2,500,000 square feet of exhibits and more than 150 educational sessions covering every major construction industry including asphalt, aggregates, concrete, earthmoving, lifting, mining, utilities and more.

The annual convention returns to Las Vegas every three years to coincide with the CONEXPO-CON/AGG show.

Students attended the national convention to represent Kansas State University's construction science and management program, and gain familiarity with the latest technologies and state-of-the-art equipment available to the industry.

At the convention, Sean Mitchell, president; Andrew Eigsti, vice president; and Branson Kocher, alternative break chair, accepted the chapter's award for national student chapter of the year, and gave a presentation highlighting some of the chapter's successes in community service, student outreach and at notable networking events. Eigsti, Kotcher and Mitchell also enjoyed several networking opportunities with industry leaders as well as other student chapters from across the nation.

The national convention featured numerous events and breakout sessions for professional development for both students and attending industry professionals. In a special breakout session, K-State participated in a fun, mock design-build competition that combined students from different chapters and challenged them to work as a team in order to successfully complete the exercise and win against the other teams. Another spotlight event was the national Associated General Contractors awards banquet, which recognized AGC-member companies for their outstanding accomplishments and exceptional projects in 2016. 

Chapter officers who attended the national convention include the following construction science and management students:

Mitchell; Eigsti; Tanner Lund, treasurer; Nathan Sterns, secretary; Matthew Hastert, open house co-chair; Sam Roldan, fund raising chair; Hayden Borth, director of chapter activities; Frank Sandoval, public relations chair; Kocher; Demetri Praderio, work projects chair; and Phinehas Adams, freshman/sophomore representative.

Faculty advisors Shannon Casebeer, assistant professor; and Ray Buyle, associate professor, both of the College of Engineering's architectural engineering and construction science department, accompanied the students.

Travel to the convention was made possible by donations from Associated General Contractors of Kansas, K-State SGA funding and an award from Associated General Contractors of America received from K-State's recognition as outstanding student chapter of the year.