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Science & Engineering Fair PVSEF 2022 Volunteer Experience

Abhijit Ganguly, our Director of Volunteer Management, was a member of the judges team.  He described the both the middle school and high school competition. "We have two hours of judging each group so it is four hours. In addition to that, studying the projects, scoring and paperwork is another four estimated hours to volunteer.
 
This has been a very rewarding experience for me and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The students came up with some very unique ideas that could save the environment, control pollution, ideas like rain water harvesting, preventing solar reflection, preventing effects of pesticides on bees, effects neon lights on brain, sea floor cleaning, degrading plastic, use of levitation and so on were very thought provoking. We all enjoy BBQ but never thought of CO2 emission from each grill, a simple trick can reduce the emission by > 30% . It was amazing to see these kids thinking so much and that they are concerned about the planet and its wellbeing. The projects were so relevant and made me rethink some of the things we take for granted.  I am so glad I got to be part of this."
 
 

Serving Those Who Make Reality

We also know that today’s project professionals and changemakers face an increasing number of complex problems that require new skills, capabilities and experiences to solve. And we are committed to continually refreshing our portfolio of offerings to serve these needs.

As work is increasingly delivered through projects, more individuals will need to upskill and dive deeper into effective implementation. There’s a clear need that has gone unmet for too long—a single one-stop place for individuals to access resources that enable them to make change happen. Whether we call our vehicle for change a project, product or value stream, it nonetheless requires people skilled at not simply having great ideas, but delivering great results.

Evolving Our Portfolio to Enable Deeper Impact

In order to serve the diverse needs of project professionals and changemakers, we have expanded the offerings in our portfolio to meet stakeholders where they are, regardless of experience or industry, and help them gain the skills they need to create positive impact.

These newer offerings act as doorways to improvement—essentially ways that individuals can turn ideas into reality:

  • Kickoff: A free 45-minute online course and toolkit that covers basic project techniques and tools professionals can use to drive change forward using either agile or traditional approaches.
  • Navigator: A free tool to help professionals determine the next step in their career development, including opportunities for a comprehensive self-assessment of skills, interests and goals, while offering action plans to achieve objectives.
  • Disciplined Agile Certification Suite: A range of agile certifications designed to help professionals learn when and how to use different agile practices, with an emphasis on tailoring to the unique needs of a team or entire organization.
  • PMI Citizen Developer™: The first of its kind, platform-agnostic suite of learning tools and resources for professionals and organizations seeking to implement and scale citizen development initiatives, which utilize no-code/low-code platforms as an agile but secure way of developing apps.
  • Wicked Problem Solving: An online, interactive design-thinking toolkit, created in partnership with a leading industry expert that helps changemakers collaborate and define both problems and solutions as a group.
  • Organizational Transformation Series: A series of online courses and micro-credentials dedicated to helping professionals learn how to drive and lead successful business transformations of various sizes.
  • PMIstandards+™: A digital solution for instant access to PMI standards and practice guides, as well as how-to content and more—all tailored to industry, approach and goals.
  • PMI Project Management Ready™: An early-entry project management certification available to those who do not yet have a high school diploma and/or may not have the experience and education required for our entry-level professional certification, the Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)® exam.

Benefits of Broadened Portfolio

Let’s break down some of the unique benefits of our offerings that can help supercharge a career.

  • Deliver Greater Value – Today’s professionals need a variety of tools in their tool belts depending on their unique context and environment. Our offerings enable professionals to tackle and overcome challenges with a multitude of approaches. Whether someone needs to increase their fluency in agile or step up their business acumen, they can find an offering tailored to their needs, allowing for opportunities to deliver greater value to their business.
  • Customized and Personalized – We believe that project skills are essential throughout life. We serve individuals at every stage of their careers, from students and newly minted professionals learning the ropes of effectively managing projects, all the way to seasoned veterans seeking to better understand emerging technologies and ways of solving problems. Our offerings are customized and personalized to the individual and what they need at the moment they need it.
  • Ready for Anything – COVID-19 proved that professionals need to be prepared to expect the unexpected and tackle unprecedented challenges. Ultimately our expanding portfolio is focused on ensuring that PMI is the place where anyone can find guidance, tools, knowledge and perspective on how to address their next big challenge, whether it’s building a hospital in record time, converting a large-scale event to a virtual experience or launching a new product.

Stay tuned on new ways that PMI will empower both project professionals and changemakers to turn all their biggest and boldest ideas into reality.

This article was originally published on the Official PMI Blog.

Future Cities Project Plan Award 2022

Each year PMI Phoenix Judges support the Future City competition to Arizona Schools by providing guidance and feedback to the teams. During the competition, each team is given four requirements to complete in advance of the project deadline to be eligible for the best project plan award. These requirements include creating Project Goals, Project Schedules, conducting Project Status Check-ins, and completing a Project Reflection.

This year, our volunteer judges at PMI Phoenix have determined that the award for the Best Project Plan is given to Team Antalya from Esmond Station. Team Antalya excelled at completing the foundational elements of defining their goals for the project, showing excellent skills in forecasting their objectives, assigning team roles, acquiring resources, and providing fantastic project assumptions and risks.

Schedules are a core component of any project. Team Antalya excelled in creating its project schedule by capturing tasks and critical milestones. The team also met weekly to conduct project status meetings, where they reviewed completed work and addressed the upcoming tasks. Keeping a rigid task list of their remaining work and working as a team, Team Antalya was able to meet their Milestones and complete their project on time. One essential item that set Team Antalya apart was its ability to adapt to changes in its project. After discovering their model dimensions were out of scale, the team had to redesign some aspects of their project plan to keep them on schedule and meet their milestones. Changes to the plan were discussed as a team and documented in the project plan. The team did a fantastic job coming together to complete their original goals.

Future Cities Project Manager Award 2022

She proved that she could be a good leader.  She listened to her team and pushed for teamwork.  She helped her team grow and work together harmoniously even when COVID-19 made it impossible for some team members to stay in school.  While some team members were in quarantine, she was faced with technology mishaps, but she still made a way for all minds to come together to continue to stay on schedule.  She wished she had the opportunity to speak with past Future City Competition participants to see what obstacles they were faced with and get help with obstacles they were currently facing.  Nothing could have prepared Emma for what COVID-19 had in store, but she was able to lead her team to complete their project on time.  Team Estrella earned awards such as the ASU Rob and Melani Walton Civic Design Award.  Congratulations, Emma Kelly, for earning this year’s Project Manager award. 

AZ DECA State Career Development Conference Needs Judges

Arizona State DECA Career Development Conference needs judges for Saturday, February 26th, 8:30 am-1:30 p.m. DECA (Distributive Education Clubs of America) focuses on Marketing, Management, Finance, Hospitality, and Entrepreneurship for 9th-12th grades. As a volunteer judge, you will sit across the table from Arizona DECA's talented members and evaluate the knowledge and skills they have developed all year.

When: February, 26, 2022 8:00AM - 12:00PM

Where: Arizona Grand Resort, 8000 Arizona Grant Parkway, Phoenix, 85044

Please note that this is an in-person event. It is the sole responsibility of the volunteer to ensure their health and safety as well as to abide by the health and safety protocols established by the conference organization.

Logistics

  • If you are interested in judging one of the categories, please use the link to register: https://bit.ly/AZDECA-SCDCJudges
  • Please list PMI Phoenixfor the field “Who referred you to volunteer as a DECA Competitive Events judge?
  • Please send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to let him know that you are participating in this endeavor.
  • Please track the hours that you spend performing your feedback responsibilities.

If you do have questions regarding this, please contact Steve Poessnecker (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

Additional Judging for Elementary/Junior High Paradise Valley Science and Engineering Fair

PMI Phoenix is requesting additional judges to assist with the Elementary and Junior High Paradise Valley Science and Engineering Fair.  Judging occurs February 22-27, 2022 with live video interviews February 28 – March 2.  Judging is done virtually and all judges are provided with the appropriate judging information.  From a judging standpoint, you will be judging the process and you do not have to be an expert in a particular scientific or engineering area. The attached flyer provides the request.

PMI Phoenix Academic Outreach is continually looking for ways to give back to our community.  This is an opportunity where we can provide educational mentoring and assistance to students so that they can get feedback from project management professionals. 

Logistics

  • Please send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to let him know that you are participating in this endeavor.
  • Please track the hours that you spend performing your feedback responsibilities.
  • If you do have questions regarding this, please contact Steve Poessnecker (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) or Phil Howardell STEM/CREST Coordinator for Paradise Valley Schools (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.),