Gaelcholáiste Cheatharlach Students Pictured with their Volunteers Mary & Con
Staff from UNUM recently volunteered with 57 students from Gaelcholáiste Cheatharlach to deliver Module 1 and 2 of the PMIEF “Project Management Skills for Life” programme designed to enable students to understand how to plan, carry out, monitor and evaluate a project of their own.
On Wednesday 23rd November, Mary, Con and Virginia visited Gaelcholáiste Cheatharlach to facilitate 
Students preparing their structures module 1 of the programme enabling the students to understand what a project is, how project management is important in every industry and what skills potential project managers need to develop. Following on from which through an interactive mini-project the students were tasked with a specific brief to build the tallest structure possible, in the time allowed, that was solid enough to be moved from one location to another with the limited amount of resources provided to them. This enabled the students to experience many elements of project management including scope, time, cost, quality, risk, and team collaboration.
On November 28th and 30th, the two classes were invited to UNUM to complete Module two of the Project Management Skills for Life programme and to see first-hand how important Project Management is in UNUM. On arrival at UNUM the students were met by Gillian O’Connor, HR Administrator who welcomed the students to UNUM and introduced them to a number of her colleagues whose roles included Business Analysts, Scrum Masters, Project Managers, Software Engineers and Technical Support Engineers. All of whom gave an overview of their roles in UNUM and outlined how important project management is in every part of the work they do.
Gaelcholáiste Cheatharlach students during their visit to UnumSubsequently, Virginia, Mary and Con worked with their classes to generate ideas for a project that they would like to project manage in school to fundraise for a local charity. The students were enthused by the challenge and came up with some great ideas including a fun run in Christmas jumpers and an Easter Sports Eggtravaganza. After electing Project Managers and Deputy Project Managers for their class group the students were given a tour of UNUM and were introduced to more professionals in UNUM who discussed their roles and answered the students questions on the education requirements for their job.
Over the next few weeks and months both transition year Gaelcholáiste Cheatharlach class groups will carry out their class projects. Based on their enthusiasm and engagement we look forward to their hard work resulting in successful outcomes for their projects. Thank you to all involved!
Virginia with Gaelcholáiste Cheatharlach students during her visit to the school