LeChase continues to reach out to students interested in construction. Recently, LeChase representatives attended several college and high school career events across New York and in North Carolina.
Photos to left: Meeting students at the ASC event. Right: Jason and Mike at ECU.
Utica College Construction Management Expo – This expo is aimed at students in the school’s construction management program. This year, more than 30 construction management students attended the event, which included a keynote address by Joe Hogan, vice president of Building Services for the Associated General Contractors of New York State. LeChase’s Tyler Schneider, project manager from Syracuse, Troy Forbes, junior estimator from Syracuse, and Patrick Griffin, business development associate from Rochester, were on hand to talk with students.
East Carolina University (ECU) Career Fair – In North Carolina, Jason Varner, superintendent, and Mike MacGilvray, preconstruction manager, were among those representing LeChase’s southeast region at the ECU Career Fair. The region’s goal is to attend the event on a regular basis to find student candidates for summer internship positions as well as to look for students seeking full-time employment. “We received a good turnout from the students, and even had a former intern from 2019 stop by to introduce us to some students he knew,” said Mike. The event was a tremendous opportunity to network with students and even professors in the Construction Management department.
Rochester Careers in Construction – Alfred State College puts on this event in conjunction with Monroe County and multiple companies and agencies in the Rochester area. It is designed to interest high school students in skilled trades as a career. This year, it attracted more than 450 students from over 25 schools. Frank Tortora, a project engineer who represented LeChase at this year’s event, can identify with the students. “Attending three of my four years in high school, It got me excited to pursue a degree in construction,” he noted. “I ended up as a project engineer with LeChase and couldn’t imagine doing anything else or working for anyone else.”
Top: Paul and Jay and Alfred State Bottom: Rochester Careers in Construction event
Alfred State Career Fair – LeChase has a number of Alfred State alumni and the company regularly attends the school’s spring and fall career fairs. In addition, Fred Thompson, LeChase vice president and regional operations manager in Corning, is actively involved in the school’s construction management program. Corning office employees Paul Cody, project manager, and Jay Burdin, estimator and Alfred alum, represented the company at this fall’s career event at the school.
30th Annual ASC Student Competition and Career Fair – This event is put on by the Associated Schools of Construction (ASC) and includes 16 East Coast colleges, all with bachelor’s programs in construction and related fields. More than 250 students attended, the majority of them on student teams competing at the event. Each year, LeChase sponsors a team from Rochester Institute of Technology and helps the students prepare for several months before the competition. The RIT team competed in the Design Build category this year. Rochester employees who attended the event were: Ian Crell, assistant superintendent; Greg Delahoy, assistant superintendent; Abigail Campbell, project engineer; Cheryl Schmidt, director of organizational development; and Lee Sommerman, vice president.
