Guiding the next generation into the industry

By Emma Peterson. 

The Roofing Alliance student competition gives students the opportunity to learn beyond the classroom through mentorships and networking.  

In a new episode of Roofing RoadTrips™, Megan Ellsworth hosted Kyle Cahill to talk about his role as a mentor in the tenth annual Roofing Alliance student competition. Kyle is a project manager at King of Texas Roofing in Texas and began his journey with the competition as a participant in 2021.  

In 2020, he was doing his Texas A&M University classes online and got a local internship, with King of Texas Roofing. He recalls, “One of the project managers was actually a mentor of the roofing team at the time for Texas A&M.” So, when his internship was over the following year, Kyle competed. 

He found the competition super impactful to his career and learning. He explained, “I was already learning a little during my internship, but during the roofing competition, students are kind of put in a really unique challenge that they might not see anywhere else.” These unique challenges prepare the competitors for the curveballs that they will continually encounter in the industry. 

As a part of the competition, Kyle also got to attend International Roofing Expo (IRE as a student. He found this experience a huge part of the value of the competition. Kyle elaborated, “Being around the roofing world was a big eyeopener. On the expo floor there's just thousands and thousands of companies, manufacturers and they give you a day to go and talk to a lot of them and see what they're like.” Across the expo floor, Kyle recalls manufacturers and others in the industry working to recruit him and the other students. It was a great networking opportunity and route into the industry.  

Now that he’s a project manager, he’s excited to work with students as their mentor. He noted, “The students take classes about operations, estimating and just how general projects are managed. My job is to explain how all of that takes place from the roofing subcontractor's point of view.”  

Read the transcript or Listen to the podcast to learn more about Roofing Alliance’s tenth annual student competition.