The Future Contractors Scholarship launched in 2018, encouraging students to consider a degree and career focused in the construction industry. CCIS selected six finalists for the 2021 spring scholarship to be voted on. The public had the opportunity to choose whose essay was their favorite. The public voting poll was open for one week, with Vincent White being selected as the winner of the $750 award.
Vincent White is a senior at Farwell High School but is also currently enrolled in the early college program at Mid Michigan College. What he enjoys most about his studies is the challenging himself every step of the way. When Vincent is presented with a problem he wants to tackle it head on and is determined to find a resolution. Vincent has been a member of his school bands for 8 years, track and field teams for 6 years. Outside of school, Vincent manages a Discord chat app server with 250+ members that strives to provide assistance with those struggling with school work. He's also spent a summer working in the construction industry, which he found incredibly rewarding.
If you know of a future contractor entering or currently attending college/university, encourage them to apply to our current CCIS Future Contractor Scholarship at www.ccisbonds.com/scholarship.
Read Vincent's winning essay below:
Outdated Regulations and Codes: In construction and as a contractor, we have to obey the regulations and codes that are set, for reasons from energy efficiency to safety. But overtime, these regulations get outdated, with new techniques, better equipment and building standards, these regulations need to be updated. Arizona is no exception to this. So today, let's dive into Arizona’s energy efficiency building codes. First off, they barely have one. The 2012 IECC code is not mandatorily enforced by any means and is not a statewide code. This means that the code in place is accepted by each community, and new buildings are not checked if standards are being met. This in turn, allows buildings with low standards to exist, and be allowed in new constructions. On top of this, there is no requirement for new construction to even include such standards. With no enforcement and no state-wide rule, the likelihood of lasting change, and improving the energy efficiency of buildings is low. This has a big impact on the amount of fossil fuels we waste heating and cooling Arizonian’s buildings. This could easily be changed by mandating that all new buildings must be constructed with the 2018 IECC codes or newer, and making it a statewide requirement, with enforcement needed to finalize the building. This will save even more than the projected $270 million saved by 2030, save homeowners hundreds, if not thousands of dollars; and improve quality of life with cooler homes in the summer and warmer homes in the winter faster. Even better is if the United States accepted codes similar to California nationwide. As California has the steepest energy efficiency regulations, as of last year all new construction includes solar. If this was adopted nationwide, there could be millions, if not hundreds of millions of dollars saved, and energy bills across the nation would drop. Some states don’t even have energy efficiency codes. So, let's fix these outdated regulations, and make statewide energy efficient regulations mandatory, enforce them, and keep them up to date.
Sources “Residential Codes.” ACEEE, database.aceee.org/state/residential-codes. “Arizona.” Building Energy Codes Program, www.energycodes.gov/adoption/states/arizona.