Pennsylvania College of Technology Places First in ABC National Construction Management Competition

Associated Builders and Contractors Keystone Chapter today announced that its Student Chapter, Pennsylvania College of Technology, placed first in both project management and safety in the Construction Management Competition at the ABC Convention 2026 in Salt Lake City on March 20. Pennsylvania College of Technology’s team was 1 of 30 teams that put their construction project leadership skills to the test by delivering a proposal on the same real-life construction management project.

We’re proud to recognize the team members:
Jason Wiedl (Senior)
Jake Blatt (Junior)
John Schwear III (Junior)
Austin Pusey (Sophomore)
James Fretz (Senior)
Aaron Almony (Senior)
Favian Frutos-Corona (Sophomore)

“On behalf of ABC Keystone, we are incredibly proud of our Pennsylvania College of Technology Student Chapter for earning first place in both project management and safety at the 2026 Construction Management Competition,” said Dave Sload, ABC Keystone President-CEO. “Competing against top teams from across the country, these students demonstrated exceptional skill, leadership, and a true commitment to building safely and effectively. This achievement reflects not only their hard work, but also the strength of workforce development and education within our industry. The future of construction is in great hands.”

This year’s project was the Salt Lake City Convention Center Hotel—known as the Hyatt Regency Salt Lake. Teams were provided access to this project by ABC member contractor Hensel Phelps. This landmark project in downtown Salt Lake City refines the city’s skyline with its exterior glass facade. The 686,000-square-foot, 25-story hotel has 517 guestrooms, over 60,000 square feet of meeting space, a lobby and reception area, a fitness center, multiple restaurants, a market, an outdoor pool, an event terrace, and underground parking. In addition to the standard goals of completing the project on time and within budget, the primary goal is to avoid disrupting operations at the adjacent convention center during construction.

“The construction industry needs to bring in 349,000 new workers this year just to meet demand, and that includes experienced young construction management professionals like these because they can solve real-world problems so contractors can build quality infrastructure,” said 2026 Chair of the ABC National Board of Directors Thomas “Murph” Murphy, vice president, Power & Construction Group, Scottsville, New York. “This exciting competition gives students valuable, resume-building experience while helping these young leaders achieve their construction career dreams. Congratulations to the Pennsylvania College of Technology.”

All participants are active members of the ABC National Student Chapter Network, which connects local ABC chapters to colleges and universities with construction management programs to build the talent pipeline and mentor future leaders of the construction industry.

The competition is led and supported by ABC National’s Construction Management Committee, and a panel of over 30 industry experts served as the competition’s judges. The committee and judges included representatives from Balfour Beatty, Brasfield & Gorrie, DEWALT, FCI Constructors Inc., Gaylor Electric, Hensel Phelps, Hoar Construction, PCL, Randall Construction, and Walt Disney Imagineering.

DEWALT® is committed to empowering the next generation of tradespeople and is the presenting sponsor of ABC’s National Student Chapter Network. The competition is also supported by Autodesk Construction Cloud®, a comprehensive construction management solution that connects workflows, teams and data across every stage of a project; Gaylor Electric, a national electrical contractor committed to excellence, from employee experience to client satisfaction, with forward-moving innovation, production and quality; Ediphi, a cloud-based preconstruction and estimating platform that centralizes cost management, estimating and data into one connected system; and ABC’s Trimmer Construction Education Fund, which promotes a safe, skilled and sustainable merit shop construction workforce.

L to R: Amanda Fry, Jason Wiedl, Jake Blatt, John Schwear III, Austin Pusey, James Fretz, Aaron Almony,
Favian Frutos-Corona, Thomas “Murph” Murphy