By TYLER ELLYSON UNK Communications
David Almanza proudly displays a Loper head on the side of his hard hat.
Not only is he a University of Nebraska at Kearney graduate, but he’s also helping shape the school’s future.
A project manager with MCL Construction, Almanza worked on the $25 million renovation of Calvin T. Ryan Library and he’s part of the team building the $95 million Rural Health Education Building on campus.
Expected to open in 2026, the 110,000-square-foot Rural Health Education Building will grow the state’s health care workforce by expanding the University of Nebraska Medical Center nursing and allied health programs offered in Kearney. The new facility will also allow UNMC to educate and train physicians, pharmacists and public health professionals in rural Nebraska for the first time.
Ironically, Almanza was a pre-medical student when he first arrived at UNK.
The Imperial native wanted to be a doctor because it “sounded cool.” However, he soon realized health care wasn’t his true passion.
Looking for a new direction, he sought guidance from his older brother and role model Edgar, who graduated from UNK in 2014 with a bachelor’s degree in construction management. Now a project manager with Interstates in Colorado, Edgar encouraged his younger brother to check out the program.
“Once I did, I quickly realized it was something I was interested in,” Almanza explained. “It just felt like home.”
Almanza enjoys the construction management field because it’s both challenging and rewarding.
“Every day is different,” he said. “I get to meet a lot of different people and be part of different projects. It’s really a team effort, working through those challenges and finding the right solutions. The rewarding part is when you get to walk through these spaces and see the finished product.”
The construction industry also offers a lot of opportunities, whether you’re interested in the residential, commercial, industrial, institutional or infrastructure sectors. There’s already a strong demand for these professionals, as evidenced by the UNK program’s 100% job placement rate for graduates, and that’s expected to continue. Employment of construction managers is projected to grow by 9% over the next decade, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“There’s a lot of work out there in construction, so you’re getting a degree that’s going to place you in a job,” said Almanza, who gained valuable jobsite experience during college.
He completed two summer internships with Interstates while the Sioux Center, Iowa-based company was working on a biodiesel plant expansion in Illinois and a $120 million project for pet food manufacturer Royal Canin USA in South Dakota.
After earning his bachelor’s degree in December 2018, Almanza was hired full time by MCL Construction, an Omaha-based commercial construction firm with more than 200 employees. He spent nearly four years at the Omaha location, working on projects for Centris Federal Credit Union, Boys Town and Kirsch Transportation Services, among others.
When MCL opened its Kearney office, Almanza jumped at the opportunity to return to central Nebraska.
“My wife is from this area,” he said. “We knew we wanted to start a family, and we wanted to be back in Kearney and have that smaller-town feel.”
As a project manager, Almanza oversees numerous aspects of a construction project, from concept to completion. He prepares project proposals and works with the owner and design team to develop a budget and timeline. He also selects subcontractors, purchases materials and manages the construction site to ensure the work is done safely and up to standards.
In a related role, Almanza serves as a recruiter for MCL. He’s been to every UNK Career and Internship Fair since 2019, and he’s a regular at construction management program events such as company showcases and the annual golf outing.
Almanza likes to recruit fellow Lopers because he knows they’re hardworking and ready to “hit the ground running.”
“Because of the internships and other hands-on learning opportunities, they have a lot of good experience when they graduate,” he said. “It’s really beneficial when students get to apply what they’re learning in the classroom, take it out into the real world and connect the dots.”
“I also feel like the UNK faculty really understand construction,” he added. “They all have backgrounds in the industry, so they’re very knowledgeable and relatable. It’s easy to trust that what they’re telling you is something that’s useful and helpful.”
The UNK alumnus is the perfect example of where the construction management program can take you – even if it’s not far from where he started.
“I like to bring my wife on campus and we walk around with our young son, and I’m just excited to someday be able to show him these buildings and say, ‘I was part of that project. I helped build that,’” Almanza said. “It means a lot knowing that I came to school here and it’s going to here for a long time.”