The Roofing Industry Alliance for Progress (RIAP) is sponsoring its third student competition that culminates Thursday, March 2 with presentations at the 2016 International Roofing Expo (IRE). ® The winner of this prestigious competition will be announced at the NRCA Industry Awards Ceremony and Cocktail Reception being held later that night. 

This year, the Alliance competition features six teams from universities across the United States that will test their roofing, project management, estimating, safety, quality control, and presentation skills. It’s the largest group to compete in what has become a hallmark event that promotes careers in roofing industry management.

The competition is part of an educational partnership with six schools of construction management: McWhorter School of Building Sciences at Auburn University, Auburn, Ala.; Department of Construction Management at Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colo.; M.E. Rinker Sr. School of Building Construction at the University of Florida, Gainesville., Fla.; Tuskegee University, Tuskegee, Ala; Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, La.; and University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio.

The six teams were asked to create a company bid on a roof installation project on the newly built T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Each team had to research the project, review the plans and specifications, and assemble a full estimate and proposal to submit a qualified bid package.

In addition to providing a significant learning opportunity, organizers said the competition fosters an environment that is meant to bring out the best in each team; encourages dialogue among the students; and fosters team spirit as students rise to meet the challenge. 

Each team will make a maximum 15-minute presentation followed by a 10-minute question-and-answer period with a panel of industry judges on Thursday, March 2 from 7:45 to 11:15 a.m. in the Islander I room at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center’s North Hall.

The judges will review the written proposals for preliminary scores and scores from the oral presentations will be combined to determine a winner. The winning team will receive a team trophy and a $5,000 L.B. Conway Scholarship for their school.  

For more information on The Alliance’s student competition and information on the Alliance in general, please visit the Alliance website at www.roofingindustryalliance.net.