Team USA wins plumbing challenge

Team USA wins plumbing challenge in Nashik, India.

A group of students, including two from the Milwaukee School of Engineering who are members of an award-winning MCAA Student Chapter) – Miya Preston and Jill Vande Boom – won a competition in Nashik, India, challenging future young professionals to solve bathroom plumbing and sanitation problems in a local school. The competition took place November 2-4. The USA team worked for six months on the project design to improve and renovate hand-washing stations and toilets. Tools and materials had to be available locally. The Mechanical Contracting Education & Research Foundation provided $5,000 to help support Team USA’s efforts.

They say you reap what you sow, and so it seems.  MCERF provided $5,000 to underwrite the cost of Team USA competing in this year’s Community Plumbing Challenge (CPC) in Nashik, India, about four hours outside Mumbai.  MCERF also supported last year’s winning Team USA effort in Singapore for the 2014 Water Innovation Challenge (http://www.mcerf.org/news/2014/congratulations-team-usa-winning-water-innovation-challenge-2014).

This year’s Team consisted of four competitors, two coaches, and a faculty/team leader. Two of those competitors are current MCAA student chapter members at the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) and are recipients of MCERF internship funding, one of them works for MCAA member company the

J.F. Ahern Co., and one of the judges is a member of last year’s winning Team USA/MSOE graduate, and Doug Nelson, a professor at MSOE, is the team leader…all in all, the MCERF investments seem to be paying off pretty well!

Miya Preston and Jill Vande Boom are the current MSOE students and past MCAA interns; Adam Koenigs works for one of the J.F. Ahern Co. in WI.  Last year’s team captain, Judy Torres, served as one of Team USA’s coaches.  Doug Nelson works with the MCAA Student Faculty Advisor Blake Wentz at MSOE.

The Community Plumbing Challenge took place November 2-4 and we know Team USA  represented the industry and their county very well indeed.  Find out more about the CPC here: https://www.facebook.com/Community-Plumbing-Challenge-Team-USA-1692628227639955/timeline/.

Source: MCERF — The Mechanical Contracting Education & Research Foundation