Roofing Alliance 2020 Student Competition Finalist: University of Florida Lauren White, HJE Consulting The Florida roofing community continues to be immensely proud of its University of Florida (UF) Construction Management School roofing team. The Construction Management School has participated in every Roofing Alliance construction management student competition since 2015. In 2020, five of the universities’ current construction management students formed a roofing competition team that became one of five finalist teams in the 2020-21 competition. The UF team traveled to the International Roofing Expo held in Dallas in February, to present their proposal to a panel of roofing industry judges. A two-time winner in the Roofing Alliance student competition, the current team prepared a bid, plan and presented their proposal as if they were presenting to the general contractor for the project. The Roofing Alliance competition tests students’ roofing knowledge, project management skills and presentation abilities. This year, the teams were required to submit a qualified bid package for a new roof system on the Ford Center, which serves as the indoor practice facility for the Dallas Cowboys football team. “The teams researched the project, reviewed the plans and specifications and assembled a full estimate and qualified package proposal that was submitted to a board of Roofing Alliance judges,” according to Kyle Thomas, Vice President of the Roofing Alliance and current chair of the student competition.
2020 Teammates
Each team consists of four team members and an optional alternate. They also have a faculty advisor and a team mentor who is either a Roofing Alliance or a National Roofing Contractors Association member. Jim Sullivan, the Director of the Undergraduate Program for the UF M.E. Rinker, Sr. School of
Construction Management, served as the team’s faculty advisor. The team mentor was Rob Springer, CPRC, President of Springer-Peterson Roofing and Sheet Metal Inc. in Eaton Park, Fla. UF’s team captain, Tony Centro, was the 2019 Roofing Alliance Best Individual Student Presenter and is currently earning his Bachelor of Science in Construction Management. Competing in the Roofing Alliance competition two years in a row, he has also been focused on gaining experience in construction overall. For three months in 2019, Tony was a project management intern at Barton Malow Company where he assisted and supported the team in managing a construction project with planning, tracking completion of milestones, budgeting and scheduling. He also prepared reports and presentations and provided support for project meetings. Since April of 2017, Tony has been a technology consultant at University of Florida, solving client’s IT problems. Ricardo Madero served in the United States Navy from 2012 until 2016. During his service he was an aviation electronics technician, supervising flight line operations, servicing and inspecting aircraft and testing communication, navigation and data handling equipment. Ricardo worked as a sales associate/key holder at Sherwin-Williams from 2018-2019. Currently, he is an intern in operations at Charles Perry Partners Inc., assisting a concrete crew with forming, demolition and pouring footers, slabs and stem walls. Ricardo designs and builds custom furniture pieces for his woodworking company, Reduce Reuse Refurbish. From 2012 until 2018, Eric Biggs has worked as a project engineer for Biggs Construction Services Inc. in Pensacola, Fla. He is proficient in Bluebeam, On-Screen Takeoff, Revit, Navisworks, Sketchup and AutoCAD. On campus, Eric is the house manager for
Left to right: Ricardo Madero, Eric Biggs, Palmer Collins, Tony Cento (team captain) and Collin Galinas (alternate).
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FLORIDA ROOFING | July 2020