This paper examines The Project, a collegiate competition organized by the Project Management Institute's Western Michigan Chapter (WMPMI), as a model of civic engagement. The paper analyzes how the competition connected college students with professional mentors and business leaders, enhanced project management skills, and contributed positively to the community. It also compares The Project to other collegiate competitions, such as the College Bowl, highlighting the unique civic dimension of WMPMI's initiative. Finally, the paper draws broader lessons for professionals about the value of workplace mentorship and its potential to unlock employee potential.
Individuals have a civic responsibility — a duty to actively participate in actions and efforts that impact the community positively. These include addressing societal problems, showing stewardship, questioning government policies, political advocacy, and similar activities. This is what civic engagement is all about. The Project, a collegiate competition organized by the Project Management Institute, Western Michigan Chapter (WMPMI), provides an ideal example of civic engagement in practice. The competition brought together teams of students from educational institutions to work on a real-life business challenge, guided by team champions and professional project managers serving as mentors (WMPMI, 2017). Using actual or fictional companies, each team employed best practices to develop an executable project plan to be judged by a panel of business leaders.
The specific challenge selected for the competition was to plan the process of applying for a B Corporation (B Corp) certification. By bringing together a professional organization, colleges, and business leaders, the competition had a positive impact on both the project management field and the broader community. The institute provided students with an opportunity to enhance their project management knowledge, network with business leaders and professionals, and learn about B Corp certification. The project was, therefore, of immense value to the students who participated.
Civic engagement is fundamentally about impacting the community in a positive way. Whether the focus is healthcare, education, or environmental conservation, every community has distinct needs that touch different stakeholders — children, parents, families, students, businesses, and so forth. The Project addressed a crucial community need by centering its work on college students. As members of the community, college students require experiences that connect them to the real world. Out-of-class experiences help students relate the knowledge acquired in class to real-world scenarios, and professionals and business leaders can play a critical role in fulfilling this need.
Through the competition, students gained an opportunity to learn about project management while also improving their communication skills, teamwork abilities, and professional profiles. The project can therefore be viewed as an initiative of giving back to the community. With the coordination of WMPMI, executives, business leaders, and professionals came together to mentor college students in their professional journeys. As one instructor noted, it is not every day that college students receive direct feedback from business leaders (WMPMI, 2017). For students, interacting directly with business leaders was a defining experience in their career development. The project positively affected the community not only by connecting students with professionals, but also by improving local chapter statistics in terms of attendance, contribution, volunteerism, and engagement (WMPMI, 2017).
The Project is just one of many collegiate academic competitions. Such competitions range from general to highly specialized formats. One comparable event is the College Bowl, an inter-college competition in which two four-member teams from different institutions compete against one another (Henshaw, 2017). The contest, broadcast nationally via radio, requires teams to answer questions drawn from subjects taught across most colleges and universities.
There are both similarities and differences between The Project and the College Bowl. Both events involve college students participating in academically related activities. However, the College Bowl lacks the civic element that distinguishes The Project. The civic element refers to activities that are directly related to, or that enhance the wellbeing of, the community. While The Project revolves around giving back to the community by connecting college students with professional mentors, the College Bowl is predominantly about bringing students together to showcase their academic knowledge and interact with peers. In other words, the College Bowl contributes comparatively less to the community than The Project.
"Comparing The Project to College Bowl"
"Mentorship lessons drawn from competition experience"
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