A NewSchool of Architecture & Design student team won the first place in the Region 7 Design/Build competition of the 28th Annual Associated Schools of Construction (ASC) Student Competition event that took place in Sparks, NV Feb. 4-7, 2015. This is the second time in three years that a NewSchool team has taken first place. In 2013, they won the Virtual Design and Construction portion of the competition.

More than 1,300 college students participated in this year’s annual competition for college students studying construction management. George Welch, NewSchool Construction Management Department Chair and team coach for the ASC competition, credits NewSchool’s success to the collaborative spirit between the Architecture and Construction Management departments.

“We are one of the few truly collaborative schools, in that most other universities have Architecture and Construction Management programs but the students don’t work as closely together,” said Welch. NewSchool participants included students from both the Architecture and the Construction Management departments, including construction management majors Obhi Dewan (’15), Chris Lerma (’15), Victor Maple (’15), Jaime Mello (’15) and Brian Zenz (’15), as well as architecture majors Ruben Bravo (’16), Athena Dadiz (’15), Jose Ponce (’16), Beatrice Soto (’16), and Luis Valdovinos (’15).

The Annual Design/Build ASC Competition is also widely regarded as one of the largest recruiting events in the construction management industry. More than 70 of the largest construction management companies attended the conference this year, including Balfour Beatty, Swinerton Builders, and Turner Construction. In previous years NewSchool participants have received excellent networking opportunities during the event. This year’s NewSchool attendees also had multiple job interviews and after their win, were treated to a dinner by one of the largest construction management companies in the U.S.