Can project management be fun? I can now answer “yes!” to this question thanks to my recent completion of the Community Leadership Program. The CLP is a unique hands-on opportunity which uses a strengths based approach to help participants develop leadership skills and teamwork strategies.
The program was developed in 2006 and is currently delivered collaboratively by UBC HR and the UBC Centre for Community Engaged Learning. Around 30 applicants comprised of working professionals from UBC, non-profit organizations, and UBC corporate partners are accepted each year, and the course takes place over 6 months beginning in October.
Each participant leader attends a series of interactive workshops to help develop their project management and leadership skills, with the final goal being to effectively lead a group of UBC Undergraduate volunteers in a three-day community-service learning project.
The projects take place at schools and non-profit organizations and this year the projects included: a murder mystery play at a Seniors Centre, a community garden project, an educational field trip to Burns Bog, and elementary schools activity days focused on healthy living.
My project involved collaborating with 2 UBC student leaders, and 10 student volunteers to put on three days of healthy living activities at Sir John Franklin Elementary in Vancouver. We all put in a lot of hard work and happily the project was a great success. We even made smoothies for all 170 students! The elementary students, school staff, and UBC crew all had a great time, and I found the hands-on experience to be much more valuable and fulfilling than completing a final paper or theoretical project outline.
If you are interested in applying for next year’s program, you can attend one of the information sessions which will be listed on the Community Leadership Program website once they are scheduled. I highly recommend it!