NAHB Welcomes 24 New Student Chapters to Help Build the Future

NAHB is proud to welcome 24 new student chapters in 2025 from high schools and colleges across the United States. These programs were created to enhance students’ educational experiences, increase their exposure to the home building industry and connect them with their local home builders’ association.

New chapters include: Atlanta Technical College, Auburn University, Bay Mills Community College, Construction Careers Academy, Front Range Community College, Holy Cross High School, Jena High School, Kansas State University, McKenzie Regional Workforce Center, Missouri University of Science & Technology, North Alabama Homebuilding Academy, North Montco Technical Career Center, Pitt Community College, RIBA Contractor Development Program, Spearfish High School, SUNY Oswego, University of Hawaii at Manoa, University of Missouri, University of Southern Mississippi, Virginia Commonwealth University, Wake County Schools and Wayne State University.

In total, these chapters have introduced 1,287 new students and counting to the Federation.

Recognizing the gap in Residential Construction education

Amna Salman, an assistant professor at the McWhorter school of Building Science at Auburn University, began part-time teaching in 2016 and hasn’t looked back.

The longtime architect noticed an opportunity to expand the university’s teachings as she saw a trend of students who’d started commercial construction careers return to school to learn how to start their own businesses.

She surveyed 250 students on their interest in learning more about residential construction. Eighty percent responded they had interest, and Salman got to work creating the university’s first student chapter program.

Starting a new student chapter

In January 2025, Salman launched Auburn’s student chapter. Later that month, with help from the Greater Montgomery Home Builders Association, the program hosted its first event, a lunch-and-learn focused on workforce development and conversations with a contractor.

Auburn’s student chapter has a goal of hosting three events per semester, an effort that has been possible with help from the Home Builders Association of Alabama, which has provided guest speakers from across the residential building industry. In 2026, the chapter is focusing on bringing students on site visits off campus, too.

Learn more about starting a new student chapter.

Auburn is set to participate in its first Student Competition in February

The annual NAHB Student Competition gives students the opportunity to apply the skills they’ve learned in the classroom to a real construction company by completing a management proposal and presenting it to a panel of industry professionals at the International Builders’ Show. These proposals take months of preparation and are graded rigorously by experienced builders.

Salman’s group is entering the competition for the first time, and she thinks her team of architecture, environmental design, finance, and building science students are up to the task.

"Everything is coming together," she said ahead of the Dec. 16 project submission deadline. "The students have invested a lot of time in this competition, and I think they’ve done a really good job."

Learn more about the Student Competition.

Advice for other new student chapters

Auburn’s student chapter is nearly at the one-year anniversary mark and Salman has learned a lot throughout the process of gathering 78 student chapter members and counting.

She recommends that anyone looking to start a chapter in 2026 put a lot of time and thoughtfulness into creating an executive board whose goals align with the chapter.

"Select the ones who value the vision and mission of the student chapter," Salman said. "I spent a lot of time selecting our board members. All of them either came from families who were residential contractors who really believed in this industry or were doing internships with custom home builders and enjoyed it enough to want to learn more."