Ridgway honor and a fourth straight Pacific Southwest Symposium title reflect the chapter’s depth, leadership and year-round commitment

When Ashley Esquerra learned Cal Poly had won the Robert Ridgway Student Chapter Award, she screamed into the phone as she relayed the news to fellow officers. 

The annual honor goes to the top student chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers. Esquerra, president of the Cal Poly chapter, said the award reflects the steady work behind the scenes and the commitment required to keep a large chapter active and connected. She pointed to the small tasks that often go unnoticed, from showing up to a general meeting in the rain to making a Google form. “It was every single thing, and it was a huge team effort,” she said. 

This spring, the award became one sign of a bigger moment for the group. The chapter, which has more than 250 dues-paying members in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, also won the Pacific Southwest Symposium for the fourth year in a row, underscoring the strength of its leadership and its lasting impact on students’ experience at Cal Poly. 

Selection for the Ridgway Award is based on a long list of measures, including attendance, field trips, community service and progress toward annual goals. Esquerra said even learning how to navigate the award rubric takes time at that scale. Getting a real grasp of it can take years, she said.

That level of organization was clear last year, when Cal Poly students hosted the 2025 ASCE Student Championships, one of the largest civil engineering events on campus in more than a decade. Ryan Hanlon served as vice chair for the student-led effort, which brought more than 400 competitors to Cal Poly and Lake Nacimiento after 18 months of planning. 

The chapter’s service work also played a role in the Ridgway Award. Hanlon helped lead a project at the Garden of the Seven Sisters Demonstration Garden, where students designed and installed a drainage system after studying rain patterns and topography at the site. Leftover funds from the national championships later supported the construction. 

Hanlon said the national recognition gave broader visibility to what chapter members already believed. “In our hearts, we are always the No. 1 chapter,” he said. The honor affirmed that the chapter’s strength extends beyond campus. “Our chapter doesn’t just look good at Cal Poly,” Hanlon said. “It has consistently proven itself on a larger stage.” 

This year’s Ridgway honor was Cal Poly’s eighth and its first since 2017. Since the Cal Poly chapter was established in 1980, only Northeastern University has won the award more times; Cal Poly is tied with Brigham Young University for second place.  

Cal Poly’s momentum carried into this year’s Pacific Southwest Symposium at Cal State Los Angeles, where the chapter claimed the overall title again. Esquerra said the run has become a point of pride within the group. “It helps fuel our team and team spirit,” she said. 

Hanlon saw that culture through Sustainable Solutions, the team he co-captained with Luke Calderon. This year’s prompt asked students to design a data center while reducing power use and easing pressure on water resources. Hanlon said the team drew on crown shyness in forests, where treetops leave space for light to pass through. That idea shaped the Canopy Data Center, which featured a solar canopy within a larger proposal backed by a written report, model and presentation to industry judges. 

The competition also gave newer students a way into the process. “There are a lot of new members coming in so this is a way we introduce them to the process,” Hanlon said, pointing to the calculations, report writing and design thinking behind the final proposal. With many longtime members preparing to graduate, he said the experience also gave older members a chance to help hand off knowledge to the next group. 

Sustainable Solutions placed second at regionals and, along with Concrete Canoe, will advance to the 2026 ASCE Civil Engineering Student Championships at Fairmont State University in Fairmont, West Virginia, scheduled for June 25-27. Those bids came through host byes tied to Cal Poly’s role in staging the 2025 national championships.  

Results across the symposium showed the chapter’s depth in technical events. Cal Poly took first in Timber-Strong Design Build, placed second in Transportation and finished second overall in Concrete Canoe, helping secure another PSWS win. 

Nontechnical events added another boost. Cal Poly finished first in basketball and placed second in spikeball, pickleball and the scavenger hunt. Esquerra laughed that “most of our basketball team came from our Steel Bridge team,” a small detail that captured the all-in spirit behind the chapter’s latest PSWS title. 

With students like Hanlon and Esquerra preparing to graduate, this spring’s honors also marked a moment of transition. Hanlon said SCE was “the biggest part of my Cal Poly experience,” helping him grow as an engineer and find community at Cal Poly. He added that sending newer members to nationals, including first-year students, matters because it gives the next group a chance to step in. 

Esquerra said the chapter’s success has come from the small choices members keep making each year. As she looks toward graduation, she sees the national honor as a reflection of those efforts coming together. “So many little things have set us apart from other schools and helped build the impact our chapter has today,” she said.