Swinerton Builders Makes Lead Gift to Create the CM Cares Endowment at CSU

DENVER, CO--(Marketwired - Oct 29, 2014) - "Colorado State University is not just about graduating students with a degree in construction management. We are about making a difference in the lives of everyone around us," explains Mostafa Khattab, Head of the Department of Construction Management at CSU.

CM Cares, created four years ago at CSU, is one of the initiatives designed to instill students with leadership abilities beyond the technical and managerial skills needed to be successful in the construction industry by pairing them with members of the community who have unmet needs for construction-related projects.

"It has been a real honor to mentor and work alongside the CSU CM students, as they serve the community through the CM Cares Program," says Jared Hoeflich, Project Executive at Swinerton Builders and former industry mentor on the Brinks Family CM Cares Project. "CM Cares provides an opportunity for the students to really gain perspective and to experience what true leadership is all about, as they work to improve the lives of very deserving families."

CM Cares is primarily delivered through the Construction Leadership course, which covers essential "soft skills" like communication, problem solving, ethics, and more. The industry is heavily involved in sharing their experiences both in the classroom and on the CM Cares community projects jobsites. Students must apply and be accepted into the course and are then assembled into teams to complete their assigned construction projects within the community. It is above and beyond the curriculum requirements for graduation with a CM degree.

"Technical skills are not going to be enough for our students to be leaders in the construction industry, and the traditional classroom experience does not lend itself to effectively teaching these leadership skills. With the addition of the CM Cares community service projects, students are able to combine what they learn in the classroom with essential soft skills, and put them into practice on real-world projects. CM Cares takes students out of their comfort zones, into the community, to touch someone else's life and to learn what leadership is all about," adds Khattab.