A team of high school students from Perry, Oklahoma, took second place in the national Construction Challenge competition sponsored by the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM). The team was sponsored by the Ditch Witch® organization, which has its worldwide headquarters in Perry.

The Construction Challenge is designed to engage students through a hands-on, educational experience that introduces them to construction occupations such as engineers, equipment technicians and manufacturing professionals. AEM developed the Construction Challenge along with Destination ImagiNation, an innovative organization that teaches creativity, teamwork and problem solving to students across the U.S. and in more than 30 countries.

This is the second year of the Challenge, which debuted in 2008. More than 40 finalist teams participated in the competition, which took place May 20-23, 2009, at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville during the Destination ImagiNation Global Finals competition. This year, AEM added a middle school competition level.

"We increased the level of participation and visibility of both the Challenge and our industry to the younger teams and the 10,000-plus students at the impressive Global Finals events," stated Dennis Slater, president of AEM. "These were important steps forward for our workforce development efforts."

A high school team from the Dallas, Texas, area and a middle school team from Kansas City, Missouri, took top honors in their respective divisions.

The student teams qualified for the finals at one of 15 regional rallies held earlier in the year across the U.S. and in Toronto, Canada. For the national competition, the students competed in three challenges:

1. Infrastructure PR Campaign -Teams researched local infrastructure issues in their communities, proposed infrastructure improvements, and held live PR events to develop community support.

2. Manufacturing Design: Free Flow - Teams designed remote-controlled equipment to move materials to guide 300 gallons of water down a 32-foot course into a specific tank.

3. Service Tech: Piling it On! - Teams engineered a modular remote-control piece of equipment to move and stack boxes in a head-to-head challenge. Teams had to make two repairs on their equipment, one of which required the technician of the opposing team.

"The Challenge participants brought creative problem-solving skills to real industry issues," said Slater.

Construction Challenge 2009 Results

High School Overall Winners

1st Place Overall: Dallas, Texas, area high school students, sponsored by Kobelco Cranes North America, Inc. The students attend the following schools: Martin High School (Arlington), Richardson High School (Richardson), Pearce High School (Richardson) and Parkhill Jr. High School (Richardson).

2nd Place Overall: Perry High School, Perry, Oklahoma, sponsored by the Ditch Witch organization.

3rd Place Overall: Berks Career and Technical Center, Oley, Pennsylvania, sponsored by Volvo Construction Equipment.

Middle School Overall Winners

1st Place Overall: St. Therese Catholic School (Team 2), Kansas City, Missouri. (The school sent two teams to the finals.)

2nd Place Overall: Tecumseh Middle School, New Carlisle, Ohio, sponsored by Astec Industries.

3rd Place Overall: Frontier Junior High School, Graham, Washington, sponsored by Atlas Copco Construction Tools LLC.

For more details on the Challenge, visit www.constructionchallenge.org.