CSU construction management alumni return to help those in need through CM Cares

Contact for reporters:

Jeff Dodge
jeff.dodge@colostate.edu
(970) 491-4251

Note to media: Journalists who wish to cover the construction project at Schlicting’s home at 501 Smith St. in Fort Collins April 20 or April 27 can contact Khristy Jesse at 970-222-3620. Images for media use are available at https://col.st/OHJxo; they open to high-res when clicked.

A host of Colorado State University alumni working in the construction industry have returned to the community this spring to lend their expertise and materials to projects in CM Cares, the annual program to make building accessibility improvements for nonprofits and people with disabilities.

The three CM Cares projects chosen by CSU’s Department of Construction Management (CM) this semester all have corporate sponsors where alumni of the department now work, and those graduates have jumped at the chance to give back. One alumnus employed by Swinerton Builders, Mark Norin, is working on an addition to the home of his former counselor in the Student Disability Center on campus, Terry Schlicting. Other CM alumni with Swinerton who are working on the project include Zach Alves and John Spight.

About CM Cares

CM Cares is a service-learning course held each spring in which teams of CSU students are paired with corporate sponsors on construction projects that benefit northern Colorado families and organizations in need. This year, in addition to Schlicting’s home in Fort Collins, crews are improving the homes of Michael Capolungo in Milliken and Tyler Panella in Fort Collins. All three use wheelchairs and need accessibility improvements to their homes.

In the Schlicting project, students and Swinerton employees are constructing a home addition that includes an accessible bedroom and bathroom, as well as wheelchair access and landscaping around a new deck and patio area in the backyard.

The Capolungo project involves expanding Michael’s bedroom and relocating a closet to allow easier access to his bathroom. Capolungo, a 27-year-old who has cerebral palsy, lives in the home with his mother, Angela Gill. Alumni Ty Eberhart, Grant Frevert, Dan Proud and Steve Walker are involved with the project as employees of corporate sponsor FCI Constructors.

In the third project, the CM Cares team is adding an accessible deck and carport to the mobile home of Panella, who is getting a powered wheelchair that will grant him extended mobility. The alumni involved in that project, Aaron Peterson and Nick Troudt, work for corporate sponsor Milender White.

The Department of Construction Management is in CSU’s College of Health and Human Sciences.