ach year, a small group of volunteers sits down with hundreds of pages of essays and recommendation letters—stories of ambition, planning, and pride in work. They come from students, apprentices, and working adults across Alaska, all seeking support as they take their next steps in construction-related careers.

Over the past five years, the Associated General Contractors (AGC) of Alaska has steadily expanded the scholarship program that supports those applicants—growing not just in size but in reach. What began as a $20,000 scholarship has increased to $50,000 in 2026. Alongside the growth in funding, AGC this year launched a new scholarship application system, replacing a process that has remained largely unchanged for more than a decade.

“AGC has become more and more committed to workforce development,” says Aaron Bartel, a member of AGC’s Workforce Development Committee. “That’s a massive shift in the amount of money we’re giving out, which is awesome that AGC, the executive board, voted to do that.”

The scholarship is administered by AGC’s Workforce Development Committee and is designed to support Alaskans entering or advancing in construction-related careers, from construction management and engineering to skilled trades. Awards are funded by AGC and the Construction Industry Progress Fund.

Despite years of refinement, Bartel says the underlying system had become increasingly cumbersome.

“We’ve made minor changes to how we’ve operated the scholarship in my ten years of being a part of it,” Bartel says. “We’ve always used Excel, and we use a grading rubric that we’ve kind of tweaked over the past ten years to get to where we really like it. We’re really proud of how we do it. It’s very fair, and I think it’s a wonderful system we’ve developed over the years, but it is very archaic.”

Under the old process, applicants submitted six or seven separate PDF documents—including essays, letters of recommendation, and questionnaires—through a Dropbox link. AGC staff then manually consolidated, reformatted, and distributed the materials to scholarship reviewers.

Bartel says that responsibility largely fell to AGC Deputy Director Norma Lucero, whom he credited with pushing for modernization.

“She suggested finding a software more up-to-date that automates the process,” Bartel says.

“At the heart of AGC’s mission is our commitment to advocate, educate, and promote on behalf of our members,” explains Lucero. “One of our greatest strengths is learning from one another across the AGC family so we can continually raise the bar in how we serve. By collaborating with other chapters, we identified a more efficient and impactful way to deliver our scholarship program—one that expands access, supports education, and creates opportunity.”

Lucero notes that AGC is testing the new system on the scholarship application process, but if it works well, it will be adopted in other areas.

“Launching our new online AGC scholarship program is just the beginning. This platform will also allow us to further promote excellence by modernizing how we recognize achievement through our Excellence in Construction and Safety awards beginning this fall,” she says.

According to Bartel, it typically took about a week just to organize and disseminate applications before grading could even begin.

“And then, we’d have to go through, do our work, and then we have to send it all back. It was a very long process,” he says.

The new system is designed to automate document uploads, formatting, and workflow—reducing manual labor and streamlining the experience for both applicants and reviewers.

“We’re really excited about the workload that it’s going to take off of AGC staff and specifically Norma,” Bartel says.

From the applicant’s perspective, Bartel says the changes are subtle but beneficial.

“It’ll be similar enough that I don’t think anybody would ever notice the difference,” he says. “But honestly, it should be easier.”

The portal guides applicants step by step and restricts uploads to the correct file types, addressing a recurring issue under the previous system.

“We gave them very specific instructions, but you could submit the wrong types, and people would,” Bartel says. “Then it was a pain for everybody.”

While the technology is new, Bartel emphasizes that AGC is approaching the transition cautiously.

“Especially this first year, we’re going to be pretty cautious about how much we jump in with both feet,” he says. “Our old system was archaic, but it was extremely fair.”

That fairness remains central to the scholarship’s evaluation process. Applications are reviewed by a scholarship task force formed by AGC’s Workforce Development Committee, with reviewers dividing grading responsibilities across categories such as letters of recommendation, Alaska-focused intent, and literacy.

Last year, AGC received more than seventy applications—a significant increase from the couple dozen applications the program saw in previous years. Bartel attributed the growth to both increased funding and the expansion of the scholarship to include trade-focused applicants.

“For the first time ever, half of [the scholarships] went to trades,” Bartel says.

In 2025, AGC split its $40,000 scholarship pool between degree-seeking students and trade applicants, with funding support from both AGC and the Construction Industry Progress Fund.

“We’ve been wanting to do this for about five years,” Bartel says. “There’s a lot of details. How do you grade them? How do you be fair?”

Trade applicants are required to explain exactly how the funds will be used, and reviewers assess if those requests align with AGC’s mission and whether the request duplicates existing support.

For Bartel, the scholarship review process has become one of the most rewarding parts of his work with AGC.

“I told our group I kind of dreaded the work, but then while doing it—especially after doing it—I’m so happy I did, because it really kind of gives you faith back in humanity, that there are a lot of good people out there doing a lot of great things,” he says.

As AGC prepares to award $50,000 in scholarships this year, Bartel says the program’s growth reflects intentional choices by AGC leadership, staff, and funding partners.

“That’s a huge commitment,” he says. “There’s a lot of opportunity that we’re putting into workforce development, which is amazing.”