WashU students win at 2nd annual precast competition
Sever students Courtney Prentiss and Patrick Murray won awards at the second annual Project Precast Design Competition, hosted by the PCI Foundation
Two McKelvey School of Engineering master’s students won prizes at the second annual Project Precast Design Competition in Fort Worth, Texas.
Courtney Prentiss was a member of the team that took first-place, and Patrick Murray was a member of the team that got an honorable mention. Both students are studying construction management in McKelvey Engineering and architecture in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts.“I was shocked and elated when my team won the competition,” Prentiss said. “We definitely worked very hard for it, but so did the other teams. I was impressed with everyone's presentations, especially considering the short time frame.”
“My team won an honorable mention for sustainability,” Murray said. “I was incredibly proud of my team's efforts in putting together an extraordinary project in just over 24 hours.”
The teams were challenged to design a football stadium for a fictional high school located in Texas The project requires competitors to consider aspects of architecture, construction management, and civil and structural engineering.
The event was hosted during the annual Convention and Precast Show hosted by the PCI Foundation, an educational entity that supports the precast concrete industry.
Only 15 students throughout the nation were invited to take part in this year’s competition. WashU sent three students: Prentiss, Murray and Hanui Yu, a master’s student studying architecture.
"This was the first opportunity for me to work as a construction manager outside of class, and I gained a lot more confidence in my abilities as a manager thanks to it,” Prentiss said. “The competition was a great learning experience for producing a well-thought-out project while under high stress and moving past disagreements to remain productive as a team.”
