The DEWALT Patriot Scholarship was created to recognize two veterans, or those who are currently serving in the United States military, who have valiantly served their country and have chosen to enter a career in the construction industry. Thank you to DEWALT for honoring our military, and to our scholarship recipients for their service to our country. These scholarships were presented at MCAA25 in Austin, TX by Jon Howland (U.S. Navy Veteran) and David Steiner.
Jeffrey Woodard served in the US Navy as a Hospital Corpsman Third Class (Fleet Marine Force Enlisted Warfare Qualification). He served his country through multiple oversees deployments, displaced training exercises, a troop exchange, and as a permanent duty instructor for Jungle Medicine at the Jungle Warfare Training Center.
Jeffrey is currently studying Construction Management and anticipates graduating in May 2026 from the University of Nebraska. He has been an active member of his student chapter since 2023 and has served as the Competition Co-Chair. This summer, he will return to his internship with MCAA Member, Mainelli Mechanical Contractors.
“I really value the small size of the company I’m interning with and the family-oriented culture. Additionally, I’ve been lucky enough to work with the health care team, which is important to me given my background in military medicine. After graduation, I’d like to either end up as a project manager or an estimator. In a perfect world, I’d like to work as an estimator first, because I think that flushing out that skillset to the highest level possible would ultimately make me a better project manager.
Before joining my student chapter, I was unaware of what mechanical construction actually was. Since then, I’ve been exposed to ideas, events, and people who have shaped the trajectory of my future career. Previously I was planning on taking whatever job for whatever contractor to now intentionally seeking out a mechanical contractor upon graduation, hopefully with Mainelli, a company I was connected with and hired as a result of our student chapter’s mentorship program.
After graduation, I’m very interested in continuing to attend educational offerings at MCA-Omaha, and I hope to eventually go into education. I want to pursue a role at the university as an instructor or adjunct instructor because the curriculum is primarily taught by people from the general contracting world. More classes taught by specialty contractors, especially MEP, would open more students’ eyes to possibilities, even when those students aren’t interested in joining a student chapter. Even the students who end up working for a GC would be better at their jobs, more well-rounded, and better at working with mechanical contractors if they had the extra exposure to and understanding of mechanical construction.”
MCAA and the John R. Gentille Foundation congratulate Jeffrey on this prestigious scholarship and thank DEWALT for their commitment to supporting students interested in pursuing a career in the mechanical contracting industry.