Concrete Home Building Council - 08/03/2007 (Plain Text Version)CHBC Chairman View Graphical Version | Subscribe
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Editor... In this issue: Budding Concrete Professionals CompeteMiddle and high school Technology Student Association (TSA) chapters from across the nation assembled in Nashville, Tennessee June 24-28, 2007 to participate in the 2007 TSA National Conference. Each level, middle and high school, of members participated in over 32 different competitive events including masonry systems and other concrete related compition. High school technology courses include a nice curriculum introducing the study of construction systems. TSA's competitive events provide an application for the various strands of curriculum and a highlight of the high school level is an event called Construction Challenge. Seventy-two teams (2 members from the same chapter) took a challenging multiple-choice written test covering a variety of construction related topics/questions, from areas including; construction safety, building codes, city codes, site selection, foundations, footings, electrical, plumbing, framing, landscaping, floor plan interpretation, etc. Once the scores were determined, the top ten teams (sum of the two individual scores) advanced to a challenging hands-on problem the following day. The contest coordinator develops a different problem each year that will require the two members to work together to solve a problem within a given time frame. TSA provides all materials and supplies that will be needed to solve the onsite problem. Considering the environment of a convention center, the onsite problem generally requires the team members to use the same knowledge from the written test to analyze and solve a problem with limited tools and materials. An example of a problem that has been used in years past is the team was presented with a complete set of home plans. From the home plans, the students had to estimate as accurately as possible the amount of materials for roofing shingles, supplies for framing, and the number of blocks for the foundation. The written test is modified each year and the onsite problem is always new. The winning team at this year's conference was from Pennsylvania. It is impressive to think that the top ten teams range from Pennsylvania, Florida, South Carolina, Delaware, and Washington. However, teams from each state participated in the written portion of the event. For 2008, TSA is actively seeking a sponsor for this event. For more information, please visit www.tsaweb.org For more information or to contact us directly, please visit www.NAHB.org | ©2005, National Association of Home Builders |