MCAA’s Awards of Excellence Breakfast, with breakfast sponsored by NIBCO, honored and celebrated MCAA members’ and future professionals’ excellence throughout the year and at MCAA 2017. MCAA President Tom Stone kicked off the event by announcing the winners of the NIBCO Tennis Round-Robin, the Anvil International Fun Run/Walk and the Victaulic/Carrier Golf Tournament. Following a round of applause for all award winners, President Stone presented the major awards.

MCAA/CNA Safety Awards

Mark Wilke of CNA joined President Stone to present the Safety Excellence Awards. MCAA has partnered with CNA on the awards program since its beginning. To be eligible to win, a company has to submit a written application with detailed information on: the contents of its safety and health program; the reasons why it believes it deserves to win a safety excellence award, and an innovative initiative that helped it achieve such a high degree of safety excellence.

Companies are divided into five categories by the number of hours worked last year, and a winner is chosen in each. The winners were:

Ceroni Piping Company of Belvidere, Illinois, in the 100,000 work hours and under category. Steve Ceroni, President, and Tex Shockey, Vice President, accepted.

Quality Plumbing & Heating of Bunker Hill, Inc. of Bunker Hill, Indiana, for the 100,001 – 250,000 work hours category. Brenda Carson, Treasurer and Owner, received the award.

Armistead Mechanical, Inc. of Waldwick, New Jersey, in the 250,001 – 400,000 work hours group. Chris Byrne, Safety Coordinator, accepted.

Baker Group of Des Moines, Iowa, for the 400,001 – 1,000,000 work hours category. Doug Kumm, Vice President – Mechanical, accepted.

ACCO Engineered Systems, Inc. of Commerce, California, in the over 1,000,000 work hours category. Director of Risk Carlton Seyforth, Safety Director Donovan Seeber and Milt Goodman, Executive VP of Construction Operations, accepted.

MCERF Scholarships

MCAA past president and current president of the Mechanical Contracting Education & Research Foundation (MCERF) Mark Rogers, who received the Distinguished Service Award during MCAA 2017’s opening session, was next to join President Stone onstage. After briefly reviewing MCERF’s investment in industry education, he presented four scholarships created to honor the industry leaders they are named after. The students receiving these scholarships were selected by MCAA’s Career Development Committee for their exceptional academic performance, leadership skills, interest in developing a career in the mechanical industry, work ethic and technical abilities.

Sarah Drummey, a junior at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln, took home the Foster J. McCarl, Jr. Memorial Scholarship. Shawn McCarl of McCarl’s Inc. (Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania), the scholarship sponsor, presented the check for $2,500.

Robert Ryan Schneider, a junior at Colorado State University took home The William A. Bianco, Jr. Memorial Scholarship sponsored by Kinetics of Fremont, California. Kinetics US President Joe Cestari and MCAA past president Michael Cables were on hand to present the $5,000 check.

Sarabeth Haworth, a junior at the Milwaukee School of Engineering, received The Reilly Family Memorial Scholarship. Robert Beck of John W. Danforth Company in Tonawanda, New York, the scholarship’s sponsor, presented the check for $5,000.

Francesco Pisano, a junior at the Wentworth Institute of Technology, took home The Alan O’Shea Memorial Scholarship. President Manny Santos and Executive Director Marty Drobny of the MCA of New Jersey, the scholarship’s sponsor, were on hand to present the $2,500 check.

MCAA Career Development Awards

Troy Aichele, the chairman of MCAA’s Career Development Committee, joined President Stone for the presentation of MCAA’s Career Development Awards.

New Student Chapter Charters

Two new student chapters received their charters, bringing the total number of student chapters to 52.

The Missouri State University Chapter of the Mechanical Contractors Association of America charter was accepted by Student Chapter President Emily Bozarth, Vice President Wyatt Rapp, Treasurer Dylan Weddle and Faculty Advisor Jacob Nelson. They were joined by Bryan Fielder of Springfield Engineering Company and Danny Edwards of Connelly Plumbing Heating & Air, both representatives from the MCA of Springfield, the chapter’s sponsor.

The charter for the University of Alaska Fairbanks Student Chapter of the Mechanical Contractors Association of America was accepted by Student Chapter President Evan Denty, Vice President Max Blankenship, Treasurer Justin Driskell and Secretary Michael Connelly. Karl Gohlke, Executive Director of the MCA Fairbanks, the chapter’s sponsor, joined them.

Educator of the Year

This year’s Educator of the Year award was split between two superb educators—Dr. Mostafa Khattab and Dennis Pettitt of Colorado State University. The award, which included a check for $5,000, honored the educators’ mentoring abilities, industry knowledge and involvement, and active participa­tion in MCAA’s Student Chapter program activities.

Student Chapter of the Year

The Career Development Committee chose the University of Missouri – Columbia Student Chapter of the Mechanical Contractors Association of America as its Student Chapter of the Year. The chapter was selected based on how well it promotes an understanding of the mechanical industry and the career opportunities we offer. In addition to a trophy, Student Chapter President Nick Kniesche and all of the students from the University of Missouri – Columbia accepted a $3,000 check.

Student Chapter Competition

The University of Missouri – Columbia Student Chapter of the Mechanical Contractors Association of America received first prize and $10,000 for their work in this year’s Student Chapter Competition.

Second place honors and a $5,000 prize went to the MCA Student Chapter at the Milwaukee School of Engineering.

The other two finalist teams, from the Student Chapter for Mechanical/Electrical Specialty Contracting at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln and the Rocky Mountain Chapter of MCAA at Colorado State University, took home checks for $2,500.

Teams from six additional universities received Certificates of Merit and checks for $1,000. They were:

• The University of Washington
• McMaster University
• The University of Wisconsin – Stout
• Wentworth Institute of Technology
• Fairleigh Dickinson University
• California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

Emmitt Smith, the NFL’s All-Time Leading Rusher, Wraps Up the Program

The program concluded with Emmitt Smith, who has displayed excellence as the NFL’s leading rusher, as a contestant on “Dancing with the Stars” and in business.