BC students excel at 2017 ABC Craft Championships

Brazosport College Machine/Millwright Program Coordinator Jim Slick, right, poses with Robert Broadway and Tim Sargent in the Brazosport College Millwright Lab. Broadway and Sargent finished first and third, respectively, at the recent Associated Builders and Contractors’ (ABC) National Craft Championships in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The two men were representing their respective employers, McGill Maintenance and RPM Services, as well as Brazosport College and ABC Texas Gulf Coast Chapter.

Brazosport College has a tradition of faring well at the annual Associated Builders and Contractors’ (ABC) National Craft Championships, but this year proved more historic than ever.

For the first time, Brazosport College and ABC Texas Gulf Coast Chapter sent two millwright student competitors to the Craft Championships in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Even more impressive, the duo took home two of the top three honors in the millwright category.

Robert Broadway of McGill Maintenance ended with the first-place gold medal, while Tim Sargent of RPM Services earned the third-place bronze medal. 

The duo was representing their employers, as well as ABC Texas Gulf Coast and Brazosport College. In the past, ABC has sent multiple competitors to the Craft Championships in other crafts, but this marked the first time two were sent in the millwright division.

Broadway and Sargent were among a field of 170 competitors representing 13 crafts. Competitors first took an intense, two-hour written exam and then competed in daylong hands-on practical performance tests.

“This competition was historic because Robert (Broadway) and Tim (Sargent) were so close in scores at the local competition that ABC decided to send both,” said Jim Slick, Brazosport College Machine/Millwright Program Coordinator. “In the 20 years that Brazosport College and ABC have competed, this is the first time the apprentices have brought home two medals.”

The National Craft Championships is one of the construction industry’s most recognized and revered craft skills events.

ABC Texas Gulf Coast Chapter has sponsored competitors in this national competition since 1996 and has a total of 22 medals. Brazosport College’s millwright program, which is taught by Jim Slick and is one of the craft training programs sponsored by ABC, has produced 17 medal winners since first sending a competitor to the National Craft Championships in 1997.