Students Going into Roofing Look to “Build With Purpose”

By Cass Jacoby, CRS Reporter.  

RoofersCoffeeShop® interviews California Polytechnic State University students in the Roofing Alliance competition. 

The Roofing Alliance hosted its eighth Construction Management Student Competition at this year’s International Roofing Expo (IRE). RoofersCoffeeShop was LIVE, interviewing the finalists of the student competition to learn what they are looking for in their future roofing careers.  

In this interview, Karen Edwards meets with students of California Polytechnic State University Claire Peters, Nick Reeves, Steven Zhang (team co-captain), Nathan Horst (team co-captain) and Chance Geiskinger for insight on coming to IRE for the first time and for them to tell us what the future of the roofing industry will look like.  

“This has really been my first taste of roofing,” says Claire about IRE. “Something that I'm super interested in is the ability to go out in the field and really be able to experience what I'm talking about...So seeing all the materials and getting a hands-on approach to all that has been awesome.” 

Chance echoes his gratitude for the warm welcome from the industry towards all of the students. “I thought it was really awesome how many people would give us the time of day, even though we're students, we're not contractors coming to this,” Chance shares. “It was a good experience.” 

As the upcoming generation of roofing professionals, these students have invaluable insight into what the next generation of roofers is looking for from their employers. These students talk about how they look for good company culture, diversity and opportunity to grow within their future jobs.  

“I look for the ability to grow with the company,” says Nick. He talks about how he wants to have a career where he can gain experience in different sections and become a valuable team member to a company. 

“I'm really focused on building with a purpose,” says Steven. "Being able to see economy growing and all that is something that I'm really passionate about.”  

“I like that Steven, building with purpose,” agrees Nathan. “I would also say diversity is something I do look for. Not a lot of construction companies, especially in the Bay Area, have a ton of diversity, but it brings a lot of different perspectives to a company when there is a lot more diversity in the company.” 

Watch the entire video for more insight from the students from California Polytechnic State University about the details of their project, what they want out of their roofing careers and more.   

You can watch California Polytechnic State University's presentation on demand at Roofing Alliance’s YouTube. 

Learn more about the Roofing Alliance in their RoofersCoffeeShop Directory or visit www.roofingalliance.net.