
2025
9th ANNUAL
CAWP Student Estimating Competition
CAWP hosted the 9th Annual CAWP Student Estimating Competition February 20 – 22, 2025. Eleven teams from seven universities participated in this competition, which was developed to showcase the benefits and opportunities the heavy-highway construction industry has to offer. It was an exciting two days with teams from Bucknell University, Carnegie Mellon University, Penn State University – Harrisburg, Penn State University – University Park, University of Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown and West Virginia University participating in the competition.
Prior to the competition kick-off, the student teams received initial competition instructions and information on Thursday night. On Friday, the teams were given pre-job documents and attended a pre-bid meeting. The teams then spent the day preparing their bids and schedule. There was a race to the finish as teams submitted their bids at 5:00 p.m. and their supporting documents at 5:30 p.m. On Saturday, the teams were allotted 25 minutes to present their process and an explanation of how they arrived at their final bid to a panel of judges. Students also had the opportunity to attend a career fair and industry presentations after they completed their presentations. At the end of the day, scores from both the actual bid and the presentation were combined to determine the winning teams of the competition.
COMPETITION PHOTOS STUDENT RESUME BOOKPARTICIPATING UNIVERSITIES







2025 CAWP Estimating Competition Champions
Penn State University- University Park
Beam Team, Inc.
2nd Place
University of Pittsburgh
Benedum Builders
Competition Teams
THANK YOU
OUR TEAM ADVISORS
Bucknell University
Italo Merante, A. Merante Contracting., Inc.
Brian Grayburn, Tyler Keiser, Trumbull Corporation
Carnegie Mellon University
Ryan Vaz, PJ Dick
Penn State University – University Park
Evan Ring, Brayman Construction Corporation
Brett Fellers, Kaden McGregor, Advantage Steel & Construction
Penn State University – Harrisburg
John Maffeo, Paul Boggs, Trumbull Corporation
University of Pittsburgh
Joe Neubert, Tony Colella, Independence Excavating
Kurt Karanovich, Kokosing Industrial
University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown
Josh Fetcko, Scott Thompson, Gulisek Construction
Juliah Seymour, Fay S&B USA Construction
West Virginia University
Kurt Karanovich, Kokosing Industrial
THANK YOU
OUR JUDGES
Thank you to the following competition judges for volunteering their time and expertise to evaluate the student teams in their presentations.
Erik Bertrand, Mosites Construction Company
Paul Hartley, Fay S&B USA
Russ Hathaway, Michael Facchiano Contracting, Inc.
Eric Klimas, Golden Triangle Construction
Rich Mannarino, Brayman Construction Corporation
David Redd, Trumbull Corporation
Frank Zottola, Independence Excavating, Inc.
SPECIAL THANKS
Thank you to Jason Sinay, The Beaver Excavating Company for providing one of Beaver Excavating’s jobs for the student teams to bid on.
Thank you to Katie Banks, Trumbull Corporation for preparing the vast amount of competition materials needed for the teams to compete, as well as assisting behind the scenes in the preparation leading up to the competition.
Thank you to Matt Griffiths, Francis J. Palo, Inc. for assisting in the compilation and calculation of the competition scoring.
A special thank you to Kevin Duris, Trumbull Corporation for leading the planning, preparation, and execution of the competition and being an invaluable resource to the Association.