Rodney McCoy, Flatiron Scheduling Manager
“I think about the questions these students had to answer during their presentations. People who have been putting together proposals for years I bet couldn’t deliver some of the great answers I heard from the student participants.”
Flatiron Central Division Scheduling Manager Rodney McCoy is still beaming about his experience at the ASCE Construction Institute’s 2023 Student Days program (co-sponsored by Flatiron) in Denver this year. McCoy wore various hats during the four-day college student event, including delivering a presentation on scheduling and helping participants with their final presentations.
“Working with Rodney was incredible and a great learning experience,” says Sugeys Reyes, a California Polytechnic State University senior who participated in the competition this year. “He radiated positivity and was always open to hearing my questions.”
No Easy Competition
Student Days’ organizers call the gathering “a summer internship’s worth of learning in just four days.” At the heart of the event is a competition where student teams develop a construction project proposal for presentation and scoring. Nothing is left out; competitors must discuss how various items will affect their bid, including local laws, impacts on traffic and local neighborhoods, and safety.
Along the way, participants learn vital skills such as teamwork and problem-solving.
McCoy puts the intense competition into perspective. “Typically, an estimating team will have upwards of a month to assemble a proposal,” he explains. “These students got their project on Friday night and needed a blockbuster presentation by Monday morning.”
McCoy says the work ethic he saw on display made him proud Flatiron chose to be part of the competition. “Flatiron is a company willing to give students or new college graduates a leg up,” he says. “The organizers told me that while all the sponsors gave money, Flatiron spent more time working with the students than many other companies.”
