On Wednesday, April 27, the Colorado State University Department of Construction Management continued celebrations for the department’s 75th anniversary with a gathering of faculty, staff, alumni, industry, and students to welcome this spring’s Class of 2022 to the Ram Built Nation. Ram Built Nation is made up of 5,000+ CM alumni across the U.S. and various parts of the world. This impressive group of alumni and engaged industry partners are considered some of the biggest assets of the CM Program. By working together, we look to promote construction management as a professional academic program and career and build the future leaders of our industry.
Personalized hard hats
As a CM tradition, the department commemorates graduation with the gift of a personalized Ram Built hard hat to each graduating student at the end of their graduation term. This year a social event followed the department’s biannual industry board meeting, so 60+ alumni and industry attendees could offer their congratulations to the 93 undergraduate students and three graduate students graduating this month.
During the distribution of hard hats, remarks were shared by two alumni: the incoming chair of the industry advisory board, John Spight (’07) of Swinerton, and immediate past chair, Rick Tucker (’90) of Hensel Phelps. Speaking to the students about their time to graduation Tucker said, “You are to be commended as you have demonstrated your grit and determination by being a graduating class that has obtained their degree despite a worldwide pandemic and unique learning environment. Your upcoming graduation will make you part of the CSU Alumni Association. Additionally, with your CM degree you will be joining another elite family – this family is known as the Ram Built Nation.”
‘Success is earned’
Spight shared, “Hard work brings great rewards. Success is earned. You cannot be given success – you must work for it. These Ram Built hard hats you have were not given to you; you earned them. Your path to success will be hard, it will take time, effort, and grit to achieve your goals because nothing worthwhile is easy. If it was, we wouldn’t appreciate it; everyone would do it. But if you are honest with yourself, and truly give it your all, I assure you that you will find your success. There is greatness in every single one of you. It just takes work to find it and let it out. The hard hats you have earned today are a symbol of something special, and we are all a part of it. So, congratulations on this outstanding achievement and welcome to Ram Built Nation.”
Offering their thoughts to the students about what comes after graduation, Tucker said, “Go out and build! You get to change the skylines from coast to coast – whether that is roads, bridges, airports, healthcare, hotels, data centers, skyscrapers – you will each have a hand in helping to create the future.”
“You will fail, and that’s a good thing,” Spight added. “You can’t find success without failing. If you’re not falling down along the way, you are not pushing yourself enough. The key is to fall forward. Learn from your mistakes, become better because you failed. Take advantage of the opportunities that are in front of you and don’t be afraid to try and fail, because that is where you will learn the most.”
The Department of Construction Management is part of CSU’s College of Health and Human Sciences.
