How an NAHB Student Chapter Alumna Earned Her Dream Job in Construction

Emma Dickson grew up around home renovations, watching her parents flip houses from a young age. She would help them pick designs and paint colors, and even brought her sketchbook to mock up floor plans. So it was no surprise that she pursued a civil engineering degree from Penn State University and ultimately earned a job as a director for community planning at Toll Brothers in a new division in San Antonio.

"Houses are the coolest things to me because it’s where you spend almost your entire life," said Dickson. "It’s one of the most expensive investments you ever make and it’s an emotional investment, too. You don’t get to experience that with a lot of other things. It’s not just walls, it’s a life that gets built inside."

Dickson credits NAHB for helping get her start in home building. She recalls attending a freshman fair at Penn State where an NAHB employee explained the importance of the Federation and the enriching real-life skills that can be gained through the Student Competition at the International Builders’ Show (IBS).

She enthusiastically signed up for the Penn State student chapter, later becoming Student Chapter President and winning the student competition twice. It’s an opportunity she encourages all aspiring home building professionals take advantage of.

"[The competition] was the best experience I had to prepare for my career without having internships or on-the-job experience," said Dickson. "It took you from land acquisition to marketing strategy to open for sale."

Dickson was also the beneficiary of scholarships from the National Housing Endowment, which she implores students to explore as well. Applications can be found here.

Aside from the skills Dickson learned along the way in the months-long competition, she also got to network with some of the best builders in the country. Locally, she was able to rehearse and receive feedback from industry professionals including from the Penn State team’s sponsor, Toll Brothers. That opened the door for an internship in 2017 that ultimately led to her full-time job today.

"Now my whole job is basically what our competition was. As soon as we acquire a piece of land, I’m figuring out what our open for sale strategy is going to be, running numbers in a pro forma, and understanding what floor plans we want or if we need to create new ones. I run all of that and it’s basically the competition in real life."

The 2025 Student Competition at IBS will be held Feb. 24-26. Attendees can watch teams compete in the South Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center. The Production and Custom/Small Home Build Competitions will also be livestreamed on the NAHB Student Chapters Facebook page and NAHBTV channel.