Students from the Franklin L. Burns School of Real Estate and Construction Management and the Reiman School of Finance at the University of Denver’s Daniels College of Business won second place in the 2017 National Association of Home Builders Student Competition.

The students worked all fall quarter to evaluate a 34-acre piece of property in Atlanta, Georgia. They wrote a 100-page business case that was submitted to the judges mid-December. On Jan. 12, they presented their business case in front of their peers and the judges at the International Builders Show conference in Orlando.

The DU students took second place out of 35 teams, including schools from across the nation like California Polytechnic State University, Brigham Young University, Texas A&M, Penn State, Purdue and Michigan State. This was the 17th time the Burns School has competed in NAHB competition, now in its 27th year. When it first competed in 2000, the Burns School won the “Rookie of the Year” award; over the past four years, the school has placed in the top five, and in 2016 it won first place.

“We are pleased that our students did so well in this extremely competitive competition,” says Eric Holt, assistant professor of real estate and construction management at Daniels. “The students learn so much from this real-world experience for the Home Building industry.”

 “Competing in the NAHB student completion was a fantastic experience,” says Chase Stillman, the Burns School team leader. “I met heads of industry and learned firsthand from construction and development professionals. This was the single most valuable part of my college education.”

The students who participated are: John Garretson, Lee Kopecky, Tucker Vann, Sarah Schulz, Alex Simons, Anthony Bachner, Chase Stillman, Kassandra Tyson, Jordyn Osenbaugh, Stefan Lycou, Corie Fraker, Marco Russo, Luke Williams and Ben Ussery.

The Burns School is supported by industry sponsors from the Metro Denver Home Builders Association: Brookfield Residential, Canyon Title, Metro Denver HBA, KGA Architects, Larsen Development, McStain Communities, Metropolitan Homes, Oakwood Homes, PASE Contracting, Shea Homes, Thrive Home Builders, Toll Brothers and TRI Pointe Homes.

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