Scholarship Winners Announced

Building Contractors Association proudly announces winners of the 2022 Presidential Merit Scholarships and Michael H. Kinder Jr. Memorial Scholarships. These programs were created to recognize significant accomplishments and reward worthy students in furthering their education in construction-related college degree programs. The recipients of the two $2500 Presidential Merit Scholarships are Dyllan Floyd and Olivia Jablonski. The recipients of the two $2500 Michael H. Kinder Jr. Memorial Scholarships are Jackson Denny and Joshua Hawkins.

Dyllan Floyd is a 2022 graduate of Carroll High School. He will be pursuing a Civil Engineering degree with a focus on construction at Purdue Fort Wayne. He is the son of Joseph Floyd of Shambaugh & Sons. Dyllan’s goal is to become a project manager because every day is different, and he will be able to have a lot of interaction with other people to solve problems. He loves to feel productive and believes becoming a project manager will allow him to do just that.

 Olivia Jablonksi is in her third year at Purdue Fort Wayne in the Civil Engineering program.  She is employed by K & H Construction as an intern. Her goal is become a Professional Engineer. She plans to always involve her love of the outdoors in her work, making sure to always put the Earth first when it comes to long-term projects and material lists.

 Jackson Denny is a 2022 graduate of Carroll High School. He will start this fall at Purdue University to pursue a degree in Construction Management. He is the stepson of Mike Inman of Shambaugh & Son. After receiving his degree, he wants to work as a project manager for a large construction firm. Ultimately, he would love to own his own construction company by the age of 30.

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Joshua Hawkins has completed his third year at Purdue Fort Wayne in their Construction Engineering Technology program. He is employed by Weigand Construction. Construction is a field he has always been interested in, finding joy in building and creating things, and watching the process from beginning to end and admiring the final project. 

2021 

The 2021 Presidential Merit Scholarship was awarded to Trevor Craig and Jacob Kuhn. The Michael H. Kinder Jr. Memorial Scholarship was awarded to Reis Sosebee.  

Trevor Craig is in her third year at Purdue University in the Construction Management Technology program. She is employed by CME Corporation, where she has gained estimating experience through her internships. Her eventual goal is to become a senior estimator with a large general contractor. She loves construction estimating because she gets to assign dollar amounts to every piece of a project and gets to learn the project inside and out before it comes to life.

Jacob Kuhn is in his third year at the University of Cincinnati in the Architecture program. He is employed by Barton-Coe-Vilamaa Architects & Engineers as an intern. Through prior experience with an insulation contractor, he visited various jobsites and learned how a building is put together. He saw some of the hardships that people had to endure during their day. Once licensed, he plans to design for more than the people who will use the building, but also for the people who will construct it.

Reis Sosebee will be graduating from Homestead High School in June. He will start his college education at Purdue University this fall in the Construction Management Technology program and hopes to complete that in three years with the college credit he earned in high school. Reis is the son of Chris Sosebee of Weigand Construction. His career goal is to work for a construction firm in or around Fort Wayne as a superintendent or project engineer. He feels his love for the outdoors and strong people skills make construction the perfect career for him.

2020

BCA Awards $7500 in Scholarships to Local Students

 The recipients of the two $2500 Presidential Merit Scholarships are Darryn Kuhl and Conner Lundquist. The $2500 Michael H. Kinder Jr. Memorial Scholarship was awarded to Timothy Hearld.

Darren Kuhl is a 2020 graduate of Huntington High school who will begin work towards a degree in Construction Management at Ball State this fall. He dedicated his high school years to learning more about the construction field. He then completed the BCA Construction Career Academy in March and hopes to use some of the relationships he made there to help find internship opportunities. He has a great love for construction and the trades and looks forward to learning more about them at Ball State.

Connor Lundquist will be entering his senior year at Purdue Fort Wayne in the Construction Engineering Technology program. He is currently employed by Weigand Construction as a Project Engineer Intern. His plans after graduation are to transition into the master’s degree program at Purdue while still working full-time as a Project Engineer. His dream is to be a Director of Project Management or similar position, overseeing successful projects and changing the surrounding community for the better.

 

Timothy Hearld plans to start his final year at Purdue University this fall in the Construction Management program. Tim is the nephew of Doug Hearld of Shambaugh & Son. Upon graduation he hopes to find work with a mid-sized commercial contractor as a project engineer. Within in 10 years he hopes to attain his MBA and start a path to becoming a company executive. He is rarely satisfied with anything and has a passion to make processes better.

2019

BCA & NICAF Award $10,500 With 2019 Scholarship Programs

BCA proudly announces winners of the 2019 Presidential Merit Scholarship, the Michael H. Kinder Jr. Memorial Scholarship, and NICAF Construction Scholarship programs. These programs were created to recognize significant accomplishments and reward worthy students in furthering their education in a construction-related college degree program. 

$2500 Presidential Merit Scholarship Winner

Emily Hower is a student at Ball State pursuing her architecture degree. She has been an intern at Elevatus Architecture the past year. She took at 15-year break from college after earning her Associate's degree to raise her three children and be the main influence in their lives. During that time, she was also active in leadership roles in several nonprofits and philanthropic organizations. While helping women through her volunteer work, she realized it was time to complete her dream of completing the architecture degree she had started. She has been on the Dean’s list every semester since returning three semesters ago. She believes that through education and the built environment, we can make great strides toward improving social issues and become a more unified and beautiful place to live, work, and fellowship.

$2000 Michael H. Kinder Jr. Memorial Scholarship Winner

$1500 Northeast Indiana Construction Advancement Foundation Construction Scholarship - Four Winners

Leyton Gregory is currently a student at Purdue Fort Wayne, entering his senior year as a construction engineering major.  He will graduate in the Spring of 2020 and continue his career as a Construction Estimator.  

Joshua Longardner is also a student at Purdue Fort Wayne.  He will graduate in 2020 with a degree in Construction Engineering Technology.  He has several family members who work or own small construction businesses, so Joshua has already had an opportunity to gain some experience in a variety of jobs within the construction industry.

Conner Lundquist is a 2017 graduate of Central Noble High School.  He has an anticipated graduation date of 2021 from Purdue Fort Wayne.  He also works at Schenkel Construction about 30 hours a week, which makes for a busy workload.  He is majoring in Construction Technology and minoring in Business to help him achieve his goal of becoming a project manager/field superintendent.  He has attention to detail and propensity to use previous knowledge to help him solve complex problems.  

Nelva Rita Nse Ndong is one of the few female students in the College of Engineering, Technology and Computer Science at Purdue Fort Wayne and will graduate in May of 2021.  Her decision to pursue her engineering degree was not merely about money or job security, but rather her passion for building and logical applications used in design.  She is an intern with FWCS, where they're undergoing many large capital improvement projects, and she has the opportunity to be exposed to Architectural, Interior Design, Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing (MEP), Site Development and Structural Engineering.  

2018 

$2500 Presidential Merit Scholarship Winner

Congratulations to the 2018 Winner, Aaron Burns. Aaron is a 2015 graduate of New Haven High School and now in his 3rd year at Trine University studying civil engineering. He is the son of Joleen Gottwald of MSKTD & Associates. Last summer, through an internship at Fort Wayne City Utilities, he was introduced to the water resources specialization of civil engineering. As a result, he switched focus from structural engineering to water resources engineering. His goal is to help the public have safe drinking water every day and also to try to stop or control flooding before it affects the public. He plans to earn his PE designation eventually and further confirm possible solutions for specific problems in the world of engineering. He states, “Water can provide many solutions and problems to people around the world, and there is a need for engineers to provide water and provide solutions for water, which is where I hope to be after I fulfill my education.”