MCAA's Career Development Committee awarded seven 2006 Chapter of Excellence Grants, eight Emerging Chapter Grants, and 36 Student Internship Grants at its meeting in June in Cleveland, OH. This is the third year that the committee has administered the grant program funded by the Mechanical Contracting Education & Research Foundation's (MCERF) Funding Educational Excellence Initiative (FEE).

The FEE program, which is in its third year, provides grants to MCAA student chapters to promote their growth and activities and to MCAA members that hire student interns. The Chapter of Excellence Grants are for those MCAA student chapters that are thriving and growing, but need extra funds for a special project. The Emerging Chapter Grants are for new or struggling chapters that need financial help to become more established and stable. The Student Internship Grants are for any MCAA member, including manufacturers and suppliers, and are designed to encourage new student internship opportunities. Experience has shown that students who work in our industry tend to want to pursue careers in our industry following graduation from college.

Emerging Chapter Grants ($3,000 each) were awarded to those chapters that are newly chartered, designated to be chartered at the next MCAA convention or struggling and needing financial help to become more stable. Chapters awarded the grants to: MCAA Student Chapter at California State Polytechnic University at Pomona; Northern California Mechanical Contractors Student Chapter at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo; Rocky Mountain Chapter of MCAA at Colorado State University; Mechanical Specialty Contracting Student Chapter at Iowa State University; MCA of Kentucky Student Chapter at Northern Kentucky University; Oregon State University Student Chapter of the Mechanical Contractors Association of America; Student Consortium of Specialty Contractors at the University of Nebraska at Omaha; and the Mechanical Contractors Association of America Student Chapter at the University of Wisconsin - Platteville at Fox Valley.

The committee also awarded Student Internship Grants ($2,000 each) to MCAA members that hired student interns this year. Experience has shown that when students work as interns for a contractor, they tend to want to pursue a full-time career with a firm in the mechanical contracting industry after finishing college.

Student Internship Grants were awarded to the following companies: J.F. Ahern Co. (Fond du Lac, WI); BMW Constructors, Inc. (Indianapolis, IN); W. A. Botting, Inc. (Woodinville, WA); Broadway Mechanical Contractors, Inc. (Oakland, CA); Current Mechanical, Inc. (Fort Wayne, IN); John W. Danforth Company (Tonawanda, N.Y.); D/K Mechanical Contractors, Inc. (Anaheim, CA); D.A. Dodd, Inc. (Lafayette, IN); Enginuity LLC (Mechanicsburg, PA); R. A. Finnegan, Inc (Pittsburg, PA); Franklin Holwerda Company (Wyoming, MI); Harry Grodsky & Co., Inc. (Springfield, MA); Hooper Corporation (Madison, WI); Hurst Industries (Belmont, MI); Indoor Environmental Services (Sacramento, CA), Inland Mechanical Construction, Inc. (Lake Elsinore, CA); Industrial Contractors, Inc. (Evansville, IN); William F. Lunch Co., Inc. (Worcester, MA); Mared Mechanical (Mequon, WI); McKinstry Co. (Seattle, WA); Murphy Co. (St. Louis, MO); NewMech Companies, Inc. (St. Paul, MN); S & D/Oserfeld Mechanical Contractors, Inc. (Dayton, OH); Performance Mechanical, Inc. (Pittsburg, CA); Pierce Associates, Inc. (Alexandria, VA); The Poole and Kent Corporation (Baltimore, MD); Shannon's Inc. (International Falls, MN); Shinn Mechanical, Inc. (Bellevue, WA); William T. Spaeder Co., Inc. (Erie, PA); S.P. McCarl & Co., Inc. (Altoona, PA); Strategic Mechanical, Inc. (Fresno, CA); Temp Control Mechanical (Portland, OR); Triton Mechanical Contractors (Mandeville, LA); The Waldinger Corporation (Des Moines, IA); William E. Walter, Inc. (Flint, MI); and Western Allied Mechanical, Inc. (Menlo Park, CA).

All the grants were mailed last month. The committee will issue a call for 2007 grant applications in early January 2007. Watch MCAA's National Update for the announcement. For more information about the grants, please contact Ann Mattheis at amattheis@mcaa.org.