NEW ORLEANS — The NAHB Student Chapter at Delgado Community College won second place in the Two-Year College category of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Residential Construction Management Competition (RCMC) held at the 2015 NAHB International Builders’ Show in Las Vegas in January.
The students and Professor P. Victor Mirzai will be recognized for their achievement by the New Orleans City Council at the City Council meeting on Thursday, Feb. 26, 2015, at 9:30 a.m. They will also be accompanied by local representatives of the Home Builders Association of Greater New Orleans.
More than 75,000 builders, remodelers, students, faculty members and suppliers packed the aisles at the 2015 International Builders’ Show, Design & Construction Week. Fifty-four teams representing universities, community colleges, high schools and career technical schools across the U.S. participated in the annual competition.
“Congratulations to the NAHB Student Chapter at Delgado Community College,” Jerry Howard, CEO of NAHB, said. “They and their competitors showed a great deal of talent along with a depth of understanding of building industry management, from land development to marketing to scheduling to estimating.”
Howard acted as Master of Ceremonies during the student Awards Ceremony at the Show.
During the competition, students solve real-life construction management problems and present their solutions to a judging panel of residential construction industry experts.
Five students from Delgado’s Design/ Build of Architectural/ Design Construction Technology program gave a live thirty-minute oral presentation describing the completed project they designed and built in Las Vegas and responded to the judges’ questions.
“It was important for the five-member Delgado Architecture student team to work hard together over and above their class time and finals, completing an out-of-the-box, hands-on, realistic, custom design/ build residential building located in Las Vegas with strict deadlines and making an impressive presentation in front of the judges in order to bring this national honor to Delgado,” Professor P. Victor Mirzai, Architectural/Design Construction Technology, Delgado Community College, said.
The Delgado students completed a residential custom two-story home in Las Vegas. The project included a complete set of architectural design/ construction working drawings, construction product specification research, materials and labor estimates/ total bid, a daily construction schedule of the building process, value engineering, and zoning/building codes.
“The team is very happy and proud to bring this recognition to Delgado Community College, New Orleans, and the state of Louisiana,” Mirzai said.
“Congratulations to Professor Mirzai and all of the students involved for all of the hard work that went into this project and for the tremendous accomplishment in receiving the second place award,” Warren R. Puneky Jr., Dean, Business & Technology Division, Delgado Community College, said. “Considering the level and the amount of competition, this is truly remarkable. Such a distinction is a testament to the excellence of your program and the serious academic approach of these students.”
The five Delgado students received a travel scholarship grant from NHE/ NAHB in Washington, DC; the Home Builders Association of Greater New Orleans; and the Delgado Student Government Association.
The NAHB Student Advisory Board is proud that the RCMC has evolved into a prestigious event for the participants, their schools and the building industry, said Bill Faulk, chairman of the Two-Year Competition Committee for the NAHB Student Chapters Advisory Board.
“Students will remember the competition for the rest of their lives,” Faulk said. “The judges were impressed with this year’s group, and we expect once again that the participants will be at the top of the heap when it comes to job offers.”
Delgado’s NAHB Student Chapter is the oldest and most active chapter in Louisiana, established in 1992. Since 2004 Delgado’s NAHB Student Chapter has received many NAHB top national awards, including:
*NAHB Outstanding Student Chapter Award (twice 1st place, twice 2nd place, twice 3rd place recipients) in 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011
*Residential Construction Management Competition, 2nd Place Award, 2015
