For the second year in a row and the fourth time in school history, the best student chapter nationwide of the American Society of Civil Engineers belongs to South Dakota State University.
Kordell Feldhaus, a Britton-Hecla graduate and the son of Kari and Matt Feldhaus of Britton, is a member of the SDSU Civil Engineering Club that received the honor.
“I was so ecstatic to hear that we had won again and a little bit surprised,” said Rachel Zook, the 2022 president of the chapter and its 2021 vice president. Chapter adviser Zach Gutzmer, a lecturer in the civil engineering department at SDSU, made the announcement to the chapter’s officer team April 17, but the formal presentation of the Ridgway Award won’t be until this fall.
The American Society of Civil Engineers, which is the nation’s oldest engineering society, has presented the award since 1965. It is named after former ASCE national president Robert Ridgway.
Zook, of Omaha, Nebraska, said, “I always thought that it would be amazing to win the Ridgway again, but I truthfully didn’t know if it was possible.” There are 416 student chapters in the nation and 26 foreign countries. SDSU becomes the first chapter to repeat as Ridgway winners since Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo won the award in 2009, 2010 and 2011.
In 2020 and 2021, SDSU was the top chapter in a sevenstate region stretching from St. Louis to Cheyenne.
Success breeds success
“I think that the continuity of officers and strength of officer training has helped our ASCE chapter continue to succeed,” Zook said. “Many officers have served on multiple officer teams during this time. I think this helps officers to see our strengths as well as opportunities for growth. The new officers also provide great insight that is extremely beneficial to the chapter.
“I also think that winning the Ridgway last year increased student membership and involvement, which resulted in another successful year.”
There are 93 SDSU chapter members, slightly more than in 2021-22, when the club was already the largest student group in the Jerome J. Lohr College of Engineering and one of the biggest on campus.
Gutzmer, who has served as adviser since 2011, said numerous reasons can be cited for the chapter’s continual success, not the least of which is the tradition laid by past advisers Rich Reid (2005-2010) and Chuck Tiltrum (19822005) and a group of students committed to excellence. The chapter also won Ridgway Awards in 1994 and 2004, the latter coming when 2006 grad Gutzmer was an SDSU student.
He added, “We have had many dedicated student officers that have served several consecutive terms. Their ability to keep the leadership momentum has been critical to the chapter’s success. I was very proud of all the student members when they won the first Ridgway. I am very impressed by them for maintaining such a high level of service and leadership to win the second Ridgway.”
Heavy on community service, professional development
The Ridgway Award is determined by how chapters score on their annual report. SDSU scored “exemplary” on all four categories—chapter leadership, membership, goals and meeting activities, Zook said. The report covers Jan. 1 to Dec. 31 and details chapter goals, events, including meetings, field trips and a symposium, and community service.
The report is tasked to the chapter vice president, which in 2022 was Caleb Huizenga, of Pierre. His work is based on reports filed by an officer in charge after each activity. With the SDSU chapter, that is a lot of reports.
In 2022, the chapter conducted 10 business meetings with a professional speaker, four of which included student presentations and four of which included discussions on professional development and licensure.
In addition, it collected 530 pounds of food in its annual Halloween food drive, organized a civil engineering booth at the Brookings middle school academic fair, organized a balsa bridge-building contest for middle school and high school students, and sent 22 students to the ASCE Mid-America Symposium, where students also competed in the steel bridge-building contest and the concrete canoe race.
Presentation in November
“When the report was submitted, I knew that we had a successful year and put together a strong report, but I was still shocked to hear we won the Ridgway back to back,” Zook said.
Gutzmer expects the formal plaque presentation to take place in November after 1992 SDSU graduate Marsia Geldert-Murphey becomes president of the national association.
