The 2022-2023 MCAA Student Chapter Competition First Place Team, Pittsburg State University, was invited to Denver on April 21 to view the real-life completed site for their proposal of the National Western Center, which included a meeting with Lynn Mueller, CEO of SHARC Energy.

Leslie Fangman, vice president of corporate development at Centrio, led the group through a tour of the district energy facility that features the largest SHARC system in North America. The students learned about the inception of the project, the predevelopment process, the construction, and the operation of the facility.

Andy Wright (senior project manager), Taylor Heideman (project manager), Kevin Stoddard (director of preconstruction), Sarabeth Gandara (preconstruction manager), and John Marlow (vice president of project development) from U.S. Engineering also joined on the tour to meet the chapter and answer questions from the mechanical contractor’s perspective on the project.

After the tour of the energy facility, the students quickly toured a couple of additional buildings on the National Western Campus and then headed off to the U.S. Engineering office for a tour, “101 course” of the officer air handling unit, and lunch.

On Friday afternoon, U.S. Engineering attendees joined the students for a few rounds of TopGolf and networking. Attendees from US Engineering included: John Marlow (vice president of project development), Whitney Bell-Haggard (vice president of strategy), Kevin Stoddard (director of preconstruction), Sarabeth Gandara (preconstruction manager), Josh Martinez (preconstruction manager), Brandon Richardt (preconstruction engineer) and Lupe Garza (project manager). Leslie Fangman with Centrio also attended.