Project management students give back to the community

By OBSERVER STAFF

Giving back to the community was not what they planned to do when they enrolled in Lone Star College-Kingwood’s project management class, but through a class project that’s just what they did.

Larry Hartley, professor for information and project management, said the class objective was to learn and apply current project management techniques and methodologies.

Students, divided into groups, are given the task of developing a project for an outside customer, preferably a nonprofit community group. They must research their client, develop a plan, make a proposal, come up with budgets and schedules, and then complete their project and give a presentation to the class and their customers.

Hartley said he was impressed by each team’s initiative, planning and work ethic.

“They all did a really good job.”

One team chose Volunteers for Animal Protection after hearing about the damage the agency received from Hurricane Ike. VAP’s mission is to rescue and find forever homes for abandoned, abused and neglected animals in Kingwood and its surrounding areas.

Team members Angel Medina, Jorge Cerda and Anastasia Bakhvalova helped to rebuild fences, clean up and spend time with the animals. In addition to their labors, they raised $150 to donate to the shelter. The team said it felt good to do something for someone else.

“This class was very goal-oriented,” Medina said. “It was a very useful class and we learned things to use in everyday life, as well as business.”

Hartley said he was particularly impressed by the team members who helped out the animal shelter.

“They contributed a lot of manual labor. The kids pitched in and cleaned up, built fences and brought in a lot of supplies for the pets.”

The next two teams both chose to help FamilyTime Crisis and Counseling Center. FamilyTime’s mission is to provide an outreach program and accessible services to families and individuals in crisis through counseling, crisis intervention, information and referral, and shelter.

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