Team “Project Knicks” has won the 2026 Construction Institute Student Days competition.
Team captain Muhammad Roshan credits the win to a “combination of preparation, communication, and trust.”
“When our name was announced, it felt like the result of everything we had put into building that team and working together,” he said.
The annual CI Student Days competition challenges teams to develop a written and oral real-world construction project bid proposal. Participants must develop a full schedule, estimate, and presentation, including construction logistics such as the project’s impact on traffic, nearby residential and commercial areas, and shareholders.
This year’s task was to create a proposal to renovate Barney Allis Plaza in Kansas City, Missouri. The real-world project required the demolition and replacement of an old parking garage and park. Students were charged with bidding for a portion of the project and taking over after the completion of the parking garage.
To complete the task, teams were required to account for the fill underneath the park, all its hardscapes, and landscaping while working with the general contractor, McCownGordon.
This year, 41 total participants across seven teams competed in CI Student Days. The competition is unique in that team members meet in person for the first time at the start of each event. Like with real-world projects, teams must quickly learn to work together under pressure.
Roshan anticipated the challenge, hosting several virtual meetings for his team prior to the event.
“I wanted the team to feel comfortable speaking up before we ever arrived in Kansas City,” he said. “I also tried to make the team environment welcoming rather than overly hierarchical. Everyone had an assigned role, but everyone was encouraged to contribute outside of that role as well.
“At the same time, I made it clear from the beginning that once it was time to work, we were there to work,” he continued. “That balance ended up being important.”
Since the redevelopment was intended for a variety of uses, the team needed to consider a broad group of stakeholders.
“That influenced many of our decisions throughout the proposal, particularly around safety, accessibility, community communication, construction sequencing, and minimizing impacts to the surrounding area,” said Roshan.
The decision-making process followed similar principles. When things weren’t working or ideas clashed, the team came together to share different perspectives to improve the project as a whole.
“The functional leads were trusted to take ownership of their areas, but major decisions were discussed as a team,” he said.
Along with teamwork, real-world impact is a focal point of CI Student Days. Moreno said the competition emphasizes planning the work while accounting for realistic variables like construction phasing, traffic control, and keeping people safe.
It also leaves room for unconventional construction challenges. In this year’s case, that took the form of the FIFA World Cup, for which Kansas City was a host city.
“We heard about how all the festivities required different traffic control or work shutdowns because they are in the heart of the city,” Moreno said. This theme was incorporated into the competition, with students responding to addenda adding more World Cup impacts to their own project schedule.
Realistic circumstances are valuable because they help students learn how the industry functions, what problems might be faced during a bid process, and how to work under tight time constraints, said Moreno, who participated in a previous CI Student Days competition.
It also helps students build their resumes and networks, gives them a leg up as early-career engineers, and helps them succeed in jobs after graduation.
And of course, putting together something so big so quickly brings a sense of pride.
“The most rewarding moment from my experience and from having seen the students as they reach this point is the moment you step off the stage, having completed your presentation,” he said. “You have this sense of relief for being done and getting to relax for a moment, but also such a sense of accomplishment.”
Seeing teamwork in action is another fulfilling aspect.
“We knew we had a strong group, but there is a difference between believing you have a good team and actually seeing everything come together under the time pressure of the competition,” Roshan said.
